^RKBStmh>?«f 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN 
 GIFT OF 
 
 PROFESSOR HOPE GLADDING 
 
ITALIAN 
 RENAISSANCE FURNITURE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILHELM von BODE 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 MARY E. HERRICK 
 
 WITH 134 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 WILLIAM HELBURN, Inc. 
 
 418 MADISON AVENUE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
COPYRIGHTED 192? 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM HELBURN, INC. 
 
 Add'! 
 
 ENV 
 DESIGN 
 
DESIGN 
 
 INTRODUCTION Llsmi1 
 
 For some years past, so lively an interest has been manifested in Italian 
 furniture of the Renaissance, and also of the periods subsequent thereto, that 
 the publication of this book needs no apology. 
 
 Two books hitherto, George Leland Hunter's Italian Furniture and Inter- 
 iors and William M. Odom's History of Italian Furniture from the Fourteenth 
 to the Early Nineteenth Centuries, have ministered to the general desire for 
 information upon this topic. Various magazines, especially House and Garden 
 and Good Furniture, have published sundry well illustrated articles upon the 
 subject. The museums in different parts of the country have made praisewor- 
 thy efforts to acquire and to display appropriately the best specimens of Italian 
 mobiliary art tbey could obtain. Architects and decorators have extensively em- 
 ployed Italian pieces in equipping houses with whose furnishing they were 
 commissioned, and in numerous other ways a taste for Italian furniture has 
 been so stimulated that furniture manufacturers are producing tables, chairs, 
 chests, and other objects of domestic appointment from designs admittedly 
 inspired by Italian models, while industrial art schools are paying more or less 
 attention in their courses to the work of Renaissance Italian cabinet-makers. 
 
 On the one hand, in many cases where the design of houses has been per- 
 ceptibly influenced by Italian ideas, there is naturally provided a background 
 either suitable for the use of furniture of kindred provenance, or indeed actu- 
 ally requiring it. On the other hand, not a few interiors of composite and 
 eclectic inspiration are so constituted architecturally that they supply a kindly 
 foil and invite the employment of just such movables as Italian Renaissance 
 design affords. 
 
 In either case a sound knowledge of the forms and methods practised by 
 the Italian craftsmen is an essential desideratum not only for the architect, the 
 interior decorator, the furniture designer, and the student of industrial art, but 
 also for the layman of cultivated tastes and a catholic sense of appreciation. 
 Such a volume as this cannot fail, therefore, to be a welcome addition to the 
 literature upon the subject — a literature that is none too large — and it will sub- 
 stantially contribute to foster understanding of a rich field of decorative art 
 whence we may draw both pleasure and many a profitable lesson. 
 
 Study of the plates and the accompanying data will reveal not only a con- 
 siderable diversity of decorative processes, used either singly or in combina- 
 tion, but also the workings of a marvellously fertile invention in the marshall- 
 ing and adaptation of a wealth of decorative motifs. Each part of Italy was 
 so strongly individual in its manifestations of the decorative arts, no less than 
 in the developments of painting, sculpture, and architecture, that it is not sur- 
 prising to find these local individualities plainly reflected in the furniture pro- 
 duced, although, of course, there is unmistakably present the bond of an in- 
 forming spirit of design common throughout the whole country at any given 
 period. 
 
 3 
 
 7G5 
 
The plates in the ensuing pages are so arranged that it is possible to trace 
 both the local differences and the general underlying similarity. The reader 
 may examine Tuscan types in one place, Ligurian in another, Umbrian in a third 
 division, and so on through Lombard, Venetian, Roman, and all other local man- 
 ifestations. This arrangement of the book, in a manner conducive to conven- 
 ient comparison and analysis, will be found one of its most valuable features. 
 
 Italian interiors of the period when the pieces illustrated were made, and 
 for the appointment of which those pieces were intended, may be broadly classi- 
 fied as being severely restrained. Interiors of the former category were elabor- 
 ate in the composition of their fixed decorations and displayed all the wealth 
 of polychrome treatment that could be devised in the way of either frescoes or 
 diapered patterns for the walls; not infrequently there was the added embellish- 
 ment of panelling composed of carved and inlaid wood, or of colored marbles; 
 and the ceilings, whether plastered and painted with glowing designs, or beamed 
 with carved corbels and polychrome enrichment, correspond in splendor with 
 the walls. 
 
 Interiors of the second category were simple in scheme, often to the extent 
 of austerity, and depended for their distinction upon the emphasis of enrich- 
 ment concentrated at one or more points where it would prove most effective. 
 The concentrated enrichment might consist of the painted and gilt corbels, 
 beams, and panels of the ceiling; of polychrome doors; or of an elaborately 
 wrought fireplace. For the enhancement of the spots of color or carving, the 
 plain walls served as admirable foils. 
 
 In either case it was necessary to the best results that the furniture be rich 
 in quality. For the ornate interior, rich workmanship was essential to render 
 the furniture in keeping with its highly organized background. On the other 
 hand, richly wrought furniture in a room of austere character ensured the val- 
 uable element of contrast. 
 
 Italian rooms of the Renaissance period were sparsely furnished according 
 to the notions of many people at the present day. In a country like Italy, where 
 it is not only possible but inviting to live in the open for so great a part of the 
 year, and where so much use is made of the gardens, there is no occasion for 
 houses to be so fully furnished as in more northern latitudes where a far greater 
 proportion of the time must inevitably be spent within doors. 
 
 When the domestic habits of the period, and other conditions also, dictated 
 the employment of a relatively small number of pieces, it was possible, and in- 
 deed natural, in accordance with the ideal of quality rather than quantity, to 
 make each item of furniture a finished work of art, complete in itself and not 
 dependent upon adjacent pieces to give it its value. Even when cassoni were 
 made in pairs, to give symmetry of contour in certain places, the decorations 
 often displayed not a little variation. The masters of the time understood har- 
 mony without stupid iteration, and the pernicious idea of iresome "tweedle-dum 
 and tweedle-dee" repetition in so-called suites was left to a less inventive age 
 to exploit. 
 
 Another element that contributed to strong individualism exhibited by sep- 
 
arate pieces was the fact that eminent artists in that age of manifold activities 
 often "deemed it worthy of their best efforts to design a single piece of furni- 
 ture and execute it with their own hands." When Botticelli or Andrea del Sar- 
 to, and the ablest of their pupils, painted cassone panels, or when Donatello or 
 Bernardino Ferrante wrought the carving of a chest, a table, or a cassa panca, 
 we may well understand why each object possessed so much character. 
 
 With some preliminary conception of the rooms themselves, and of the na- 
 ture of the furniture that went into them, the student of Renaissance decor- 
 ative art may go on to an intelligent appreciation of the pieces illustrated in this 
 book. One fact, however, must be borne in mind. The compiler chose for illus- 
 tration chiefly examples of what are usually called "museum pieces." Within 
 the compass of a small book, where it is impossible adequately to illustrate the 
 entire mobiliary development of an age, it is quite defensible to select the finest 
 pieces of their several kinds for presentation. But we must remember that 
 much of the simpler furniture of the period, while not possessing the sumptuous 
 carved or painted enrichment of the master-pieces, nevertheless had a goodly 
 share of grace of form and dignity of ornament. 
 
 Those minded to pursue the subject further will finr 4 admirable collections 
 accessible for study in the museums of the Italian cities, in the South Kensing- 
 ton Museum in London, and in the different American museums — especially in 
 Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Brooklyn and Chicago — where new acquisi- 
 tions are continually being made and where every facility is placed at the dis- 
 posal of the student. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The invitation to work upon a second edition of the Manual of Italian 
 Furniture of the Renaissance came to me from the House that published it in 
 1902, with an accompanying question regarding translations. This gave me 
 agreeable proof of consideration for my efforts to bring together the widely 
 distributed, and tor the most part neglected, material, which I have endeavored 
 to place in its order with reference to the period and the school to which it be- 
 longed. I know that it was only an attempt, and that it is on the whole, the 
 first, so in many respects it needs completion and rectification. Although the 
 value ot their art handicraft is well understood in Italy, the authorities, until 
 now, have fur the most part hindered any consideration of it, on account of 
 their anxiety to keep their pictures and works of art in the country. Unfortu- 
 nately, in the meantime the ever-diminishing stock of old furniure will be so 
 thoroughly ransacked by the art dealer that, later, what has been neglected can 
 never be recovered. Italy is indebted to several art inspired collectors and deal- 
 ers that there are at present in Italian museums the beginnings, at least after 
 some correction, of a number of excellent collections. Ahead of all the rest are 
 those of the Marchese d'Azeglio, in the Museo Civico at Turin and in his castle 
 in the hills of Piedmont; ot Cav. Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, whose museum is the 
 foremost art foundation of Italy; of the brothers Bagatti-Valsecchi in Milan: 
 of the Frenchman, A. Carrand, who in his collection of small works of art and 
 in the art craft work of the National Museum of Florence, has left behind him 
 a priceless gift; of the dealer in antiques, Elia Volpi, who in fitting up his ad- 
 mirably restored Davanzati-Davizzi palace in Florence, has given a wonderful 
 example of Italian furniture and its placement. Since a satisfactorily complete 
 assemblage of these things is no longer possible, it is the more important that 
 those scattered about in the museums and found in the collections of other 
 countries should be intelligently sifted and the results compiled. In order, how- 
 ever, gradually to arrive at a trustworthy representation of the house furnish- 
 ings of the different parts of Italy, it should be the special task of our Italian 
 colleagues to bring together as completely as possible, the material concerning 
 them to be found in contemporary pictures, documents, and writings; a task 
 which I, unfortunately, on account of my age as well as my infirmity, cannot 
 undertake. 
 
 For help in my work I have particularly to thank the great Italian dealers 
 in antiques through whose hands, for the last ten years, the most and the best 
 ol Italian furniture has passed, and especially Messrs. Stefano Bardini, Elia 
 Volpi, and Lu ; gi Grassi, of Florence. 
 
 BODE 
 
FLORENCE AND TUSCANY 
 
 In the Middle Ages the Italian living-room was, according to our present 
 day conception, almost bare. As even now in the old Italian peasant's house 
 (those of the Province of Venetia yet show plainly the old Longobard type) the 
 hearth in the middle and the masonry about it form the natural abiding place of 
 the inhabitant in the cold and damp seasons, so the chimney-piece, usually of. 
 colossal form, was the most prominent feature and obviously the central point in 
 the room of a medieval palace. Around the walls were benches which, by open-, 
 ing the seat, could be used at the same time as chests and on these, at least in 
 certain rooms, great soft cushions made the seat more comfortable. A long table 
 (only in exceptional cases were there more) stood in front of the benches; 
 more often it was. set up before them when it was needed, being made up of 
 two trestles holding a heavy plank. Near by, and before the hearth, stood una- 
 dorned stools in braided straw. In a smaller room a low bed was constructed, 
 with high steps running around it that were used both as chests and as seats, 
 a row of unornamented stools and chairs being the only additional furniture. 
 To accommodate the necessary household utensils and vessels, where they did 
 not find a place in the chests, cupboards were built into the thick walls of the 
 rooms and chambers. These were seldom closed. This scanty furniture was 
 of a simple form and substantial build; it was handed down from one genera- 
 tion to another without much change or addition. 
 
 The new period — the Renaissance — did not at first cause any fundamental 
 change in this disposition of household effects; it found its task in this field in 
 the perfecting of church furnishings. The choir stalls, the bishop's throne, the 
 pulpit, the organ, the sacristy wardrobes and desks, the framing ot the altai 
 pictures, and the like, had, particularly in Florence, large monumental form, 
 and were enlivened not only by modest wood-carving and beautiful intarsia, 
 but occasional^ also by the finest coloring through painting. Moreover the 
 town halls, hospitals, libraries, and other public buildings, were fitted up with 
 similar furniture, at times even very splendidly. 
 
 First toward the middle of the XV century, outside Florence first in the 
 second half of the Quattrocento, with the urge of individualism and the more 
 pronounced cultivation of the ego, the demand for richer and more comfortable* 
 furnishings for the house became livelier and more general. In the time of 
 the great Medici and under their leadership the Florentine house acquired its 
 modern furnishings; new forms, even new combinations of furniture, answer- 
 ing to the modern demand for comfort, were found and perfected. In this de- 
 velopment the influence of church furniture betrays itself plainly in the severe 
 straight forms, in the frugal disposition of effective carving, as in the prefer- 
 ence for coloring by means of painting and gilding, and notably through the use 
 
of different colored woods. The further development of Florentine cabinet 
 work is based on the forms that were found in this time. Michelangelo's 
 activities as sculptor and architect had, in the second and third decade of the 
 Cinquecento, even in this handicraft, a different significance. His ''cabinet ar- 
 chitecture," as Jakob Burckhardt in his "Michelangelos Innendekoration in der 
 Laurentiana" and in the "Gruft der Mediceer," indicates, brought to architec- 
 ture entirely new forms and concepts; it offered an abundance of motives for 
 cabinet work, capable of development. Thence came the characteristic Baroque 
 movement in form, and especially in the decoration, of the Florentine High Re- 
 naissance. The form with movement and ornament full of expression led to 
 abandoning the coloring of furniture, which was left in its natural hue, strength- 
 ened, to be sure, with color pigment and the well toned gilding of certain pro- 
 jecting ornaments. It was after the middle of the century that the forms be- 
 came simpler and more architectural, for that reason, however, more useful and 
 less picturesque. 
 
 One of the most interesting and at the same time the most important 
 pieces of Renaissance furniture is the chest, cassa, or cassone, which is of great 
 significance in the life of the Italian. Since the chests by the bed were consid- 
 ered the principal pieces in the outfit of a young married couple, the most im- 
 portant ones were designated bride, or wedding, chests. In the Middle Ages 
 chests were used also as portable furniture and because of the roving life led 
 by the richer classes, nobility as well as merchants, were transformed into trav- 
 elling baggage in many different ways. Before everything the chest carried, 
 with the clothing, money and jewels, that on account of the uncertain condi- 
 tions, could not safely be left at home. Serving this purpose gave to them, in 
 Italian as well as in French the name, cassa or coffret. It was necessary to put 
 into the "coffers" at the same time clothing, laundry, and all kinds of useful 
 things, even to beds, carpets, weapons, cooking utensils, and so on, to take with 
 them, as the inns, when there were any, for the most part offered nothing but 
 bare walls and a hearth or a fireplace. On that account they took care so to 
 arrange these cotters or chests, inside and out, that they could turn them into 
 seats or tables. People of rank took with them on their travels numerous large 
 and small coffers. So we find with the permanently fixed wall bench (Which 
 was, we have said, used to hold linen and clothing), also movable chests; these 
 stood around the sides of the room. In the fifteenth century and even until the 
 sixteenth, these (the wedding chests) were decidedly the most valued and the 
 most sumptuous pieces in the palace, particularly in Tuscany. Here there was 
 an independent guild of chest painters, among whom occasionally the foremost 
 artists undertook the decoration of chests and similar pieces, laying out on them 
 rich compositions with antique and allegorical motives. From the unusually 
 numerous pieces that have been preserved, Paul Schubring in his splendid work, 
 "Cassoni," has brought out a very complete group of Early Renaissance chests 
 and chest paintings. Their rich artistic embellishment seems notably to have 
 come out of the great hospitals, foundling asylums, and similar institutions, such 
 luxury indicating the possession of a considerable revenue. Among a number of 
 
such chests that came, in 1880, into the dealers' hands from the storehouse of S. 
 Maria Nuova, were characteristic examples of such Florentine cassoni of the 
 3nd of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. They are 
 mostly high and have a rounded cover, so they could not have been used as 
 seats. On a painted ground a moulded decoration in color is applied; knights 
 and minnesingers, conventionalized animals and plants, or ornaments, bedecked 
 the different sides and the cover; between them were flat gaily painted iron 
 hoops. A pair of these chests, that had been preserved in their own place and 
 position, are now in the Museo Nazionale in Florence (111. 1). At the same time 
 (1400) essentially smaller and lighter chests for private use were produced 
 that were flat on the top, and on the front, toward the bottom, were arched, 
 and had a short foot-board beneath. These were painted with the arms and 
 emblems of the family (111. 2). Only these and similar light, plain chests could 
 be taken on journeys. 
 
 The Florentine chests of the fifteenth century have regular straight sides, 
 flat or slightly rounded covers, and strong simple bases with or without lion feet. 
 A frequent, very characteristic variety of these chests that originated in Tus- 
 cany in the Cinquecento, is decorated on the front with gilded low relief in ap- 
 plied forms of moulded plaster: plants (copied from contemporaneous patterns 
 for stuffs), animals, emblems and fabulous beasts, all done in a very conven- 
 tional, heraldic manner. Occasionally also there were sumptuous compositions, 
 notably of battles, the tasks of Hercules, allegorical or mythological figures or 
 scenes (111. 3 to 5), that were at times modelled by prominent artists, but they 
 also were, as a rule, treated very conventionally. These appear in Florence as 
 well as in Siena and the neighboring cities. The vaulted or curved top was cus- 
 tomarily gilded and had a simple decoration of carving or applied low relief: 
 on the ends were painted coats-of-arms or ornaments, and iron handles for 
 lifting the chest. 
 
 The partiality for inlaid woodwork in the Quottrocento led to the employ- 
 ment of intarsia also, in the ornamentation of the chests, that were then of un- 
 usually stately construction, with fine profile work, as well as consummately 
 beautiful design. A number of the most noted Florentine architects and sculp- 
 tors were from birth intarsia workers and kept their flourishing and remunera- 
 tive workshops near by, even when they were among the most sought after of 
 the architects. From these shops the stately chests went out that, as we see in 
 pictures, were also, on account of their height, turned into tables (111. page 7); 
 the decorations on the front of these showed putti with wreaths, or on each side ' 
 of a coat-of-arms, city views, musical instruments, and the like; more rarely a 
 rich composition in intarsia is shown, while the moulding consists of 
 delicate ornament that is also done in woods (111. 8-11). 
 
 How cherished the chests of this time were, and how they were valued, is 
 best witnessed by the number of such cassoni that are decorated with paintings 
 by the hands of the foremost Florentine painters. Among famous chest painters 
 like Dello Delli, Marco del Buono. Apollonio di Giovanni and others, Pesellino, 
 Botticelli, Filippino. Paolo Uccelli, Signorelli, Piero di Cosimo and other re- 
 
* nowned painters of the Quottrocento, in Florence as well as Siena, have decor- 
 ated chests. Even in the first decade of the Cinquecento we see prominent ar- 
 tists like Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Granacci, Bacchiacca and Pontormc 
 engaged in the work. "Not only in the Medici Palace and in all old Medician 
 houses, but in ail the principal houses in Florence one finds such chests even 
 yet," Vasari relates. The painted sides of these chests decorate today, as paint- 
 ings, the largest museums. 
 
 The favorite subjects are tales borrowed from the Old Testament, the an- 
 cient sagas or the Italian novelle; the deeds of young David, the Trojan war, 
 the Labors of Hercules or the adventures of ^Eneas, the story of Esther, of Luc- 
 rezia, Judith, Virginia, Penelope, Griselda, and so on, including allegorical com- 
 positions with love and truth as themes. Occasionally also there were representa- 
 tions of the time, such as battles, hunts, tournaments, festivals of all kinds, and 
 other themes that expressed the sentiment of young married couples (111. 1). 
 This truly monumental piece of furniture, besides being a favorite wedding 
 present among the great families of the Quattrocento, held a prominent place 
 set up against the walls of the room, and was sometimes raised on detached, del- 
 icately executed supports, which at the same time protected it. Unfortunately, 
 hardly one of these most valuable chests has been preserved intact, for the paint- 
 ings have been taken out, they being the only parts that were valued, and that 
 the galleries wished to exhibit; the rest was regarded as worthless. Such a 
 chest, without doubt, was the stately Strozzi cassone, which was completed for 
 the wedding of a Strozzi with a Medici in the year 1513. It is now in the Berlin 
 Kunstgewerbe-Museum. The painted front has been taken out and replaced by 
 an older intarsia picture (111. 10). The same is true ol various similar large 
 chests, the form and decoration of which permit us to infer an embellishment of 
 painted sides. The majority of the painted chests were, however, adorned by 
 the merry representations of the chest painter or with ornamental decoration, 
 mostly of coats-of-arms and emblems that were simply and largely handled, 
 with strong tints on a colored background. 
 
 On the older chests of this kind, the inlaid as well as the painted ones, the 
 carving was mostly on the strongly accented corners and on the mountings, in 
 the form of modest ornament, confined to the egg and dart, the heart leaf, and 
 the like. The decoration of chests through rich pictorial carving is found 
 •C first in the time of the High Renaissance. As thereby the beauty of the woods 
 as such, and the artistic work of the carvers, gained appreciation, coloring, 
 through painting, intarsia, etc., was abandoned. Through strong profile work, 
 
 * high relief, and lively projection the artists achieved in this time as rich and 
 varied an effect as their predecessors had through color. At the corners we 
 
 * find vigorously formed masks, armorial bearings, putti, prisoners (borrowed 
 from Roman triumphs), or Sphinxes arising from rich plant ornament which 
 adorned the front, while in the middle, as a rule, was a cartouche with armorial 
 bearings or emblems. The cover is of diminished size on the top and has rich pro- 
 file work and carving (111. 12). The front is variously decorated in high relief 
 with representations from Roman history or ancient mythology, that are placed 
 
 10 
 
right and left of the vigorous armorial bearings in the middle. The most sump- 
 tuous pieces of this kind seem to have been made for Roman families by Flor- 
 entine workmen; for this reason we shall come back to them in the discussion 
 of Roman furniture (compare page 44 and 111. 125 & 126). 
 
 With these luxurious and decorative pieces came very numerous simple low 
 chests which being mostly adapted for seats have flat tops. The front panel, 
 smooth or enriched with carving in moderate relief, is framed in with very fine 
 and effective ornament, while at each end are side pieces decorated with small 
 plaster forms or divided into several equal parts (111. 13 and 14). 
 
 The ornament on these different types of oassoni of the High Renaissance 
 is often in purr gilded — "lighted up with gold", lumeggiato in oro — as the Ital- 
 ians aptly describe it. For this purpose the gold was as a rule toned, and the 
 wood also, instead of being left in its natural color, was covered with a brown 
 tone akin to that of wood, by saturating it with a mixture of transparent or 
 opaque color with wax. By this means the gold was made to combine well with 
 the wood and the wood with the separate colors or paintings, where such, in the 
 beginning of the High Renaissance were yet found on the chests; by this means 
 too, the pieces of furniture were made to harmonize in a delightful way with 
 each other and with the color of the walls and the hangings of the room. Un- 
 fortunately this tone, that through age has often acquired depth and a pictur- 
 esque effect, has been lost through washing, waxing and oiling, due to lack of 
 taste and the failure in our time to comprehend the artistic intent of the old 
 masters. 
 
 At the same time with the cassone came the cassetta, a characteristic house- 
 hold piece from Tuscany. Gold, jewels, caps, fine pieces of linen, and the like, 
 were in the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries kept in 
 round or oval boxes, decorated in plaster, or with paintings, not seldom by the 
 most noted artists, as some examples of great beauty (preserved in the South 
 Kensington Museum, in the Figdor collection in Vienna, in the Berliner Kunst- 
 Gewerbe-Museum, etc.; bear witness. Special favorites were the caskets decor- 
 ated in pastiglia, of simple coffer form with rich compositions of figures in re- 
 lief that were modelled in yellow-grey plaster (pasto da riso). These are done 
 on a gilded ground and kept in their own color, the ornament being lightly gild- 
 ed ; they portray triumphs, ancient myths, scenes from ancient history, or alle- 
 gorical motives. One of the richest and finest of these caskets, that in the Ber- 
 liner Kunst Gewerbe-Museum, is shown in illustration 17. These plaster caskets, 
 seem mostly to have been made in Florence in the second half of the fifteenth 
 and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. 
 
 Such caskets and boxes no longer satisfied the growing demands, principal- 
 ly because their small size and lightness made them particularly liable to tjheft; 
 from them were evolved caskets in form and decoration very much like the 
 larger chests. At first they were inlaid with colored woods or covered with 
 plaster ornaments and gilded. In Florence as well as in Siena from the end of 
 the Quattrocento they were carved in walnut in the same way as wc.c the larger 
 chests, and were lightly toned and partly gilded (111. 15). To some extent in 
 
keeping with them, the carving is generally modest; for that reason the fineness 
 of the profile work and the finish, as well as the proportions, are noticeable. 
 Of the same fineness of proportion and ornament is a simple casket of about 
 1500 in the Berliner Kunst Gewerbe-Museum that yet shows the old toning. A 
 similar one is found among the decorative pieces in the Kaiser Friedrich-Mus- 
 cum (111. 16). Richer but already somewhat coarser in execution are the cas- 
 kets of a little later origin, the sides of which are inlaid with rare antique 
 marbles. The number of cassette of this kind preserved would indicate that 
 they were used in all the better houses in Tuscany. 
 
 Because of the separation of the chest from the bench the latter were not 
 superflous, especially since the chests as seats were numerous only in later 
 times. The wall bench held its place in many rooms, especially in the vestibules 
 of the Florentine houses, even during the Renaissance. We also occasionally 
 
 • find, as in the Palazzo Strozzi, even the plinths of the houses used as benches 
 for the hospitable reception of the household attendants and the common peo- 
 ple. The wall bench was often ornamented richly; the legs then terminated in 
 lion feet, and :he high back, which served at the same time as a wainscot, was 
 decorated more or less with rich designs in intarsia, similar to that of the 
 choir stalls in the churches, though in a simpler style. After the fifteenth cen- 
 tury we meet also the movable bench, detached from the wall. This as a rule 
 is smaller and without a back, its lid-like seat being always movable so that 
 the inside mav be used as a chest. The sides are curved inward as a protection 
 against the feet, for the reception of which a small tread-board is placed below 
 in tront of the bench. The decoration of such benches, when they were made 
 for a sumptuous setting, is of simple intarsia ornament or decorative painting, 
 in later times confined to strongly carved but flat ornament, as the illustration 
 of a pair of such little benches in the Kaiser Friedrich-Museum in Berlin shows 
 (111. 18, 19 and 20). 
 
 In the middle of the fifteenth century, or soon after, yet another character- 
 istic piece was evolved from the wall bench, which the Italians appropriately 
 term cassapanca. It was first used as a seat, but afterward served as a chest. 
 This piece also, the ancestor of our sofa, is specifically Florentine and did not go 
 
 . beyond Florence and its neighborhood, where it was in fashion for about a 
 hundred years. In its strong, straight, chest form, with its low sides, it con- 
 veys to an unusual degree an impression of the serious, vigorous, and monumen- 
 tal character of the Florentine Renaissance furniture. On a projecting foot- 
 board the substructure stands in true chest form, and like the chests was used 
 to hold clothing, linen and the like; on this lower piece (usually closing flat on 
 the top) stand the back and sides. In the fifteenth and the beginning of the 
 sixteenth centuries the cassapanca was almost entirely flat and the simple orna- 
 mentation generally of intarsia. The Kaiser Friedrich-Museum in Berlin has an 
 excellent piece of the kind and there are several still older ones in the Villa Tor- 
 re del Gallo (Bardini) outside Florence, and in the Palazzo Davanzati (111. 21). 
 In the sixteenth century the forms had more movement, the profile work was 
 stronger, while the ornamentation consisted of carving, and masks and armorial 
 
 12 
 
bearings were disposed in suitable places. These pieces became really avail- 
 able for seating only through the use of large cushions on the seat and sides 
 as well as at the back. Because of their large and massive construction these un- 
 usually durable pieces of furniture have been preserved in the palaces and villas 
 of the principal Florentine families in considerable numbers; they have, how- 
 ever, recently, almost without exception, gone into the museums and private 
 collections, where the armorial bearings of the Medici, Antinori, Strozzi, and 
 others, are to be found on them, betraying their origin. We give some illustra- 
 tions of unusually noble or sumptuous pieces as they are found in the Museo 
 Nazionale in Florence, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and es- 
 pecially in the collections of Paris, Berlin and other places (111. 21-25). A cas- 
 sapanca of the kind, of unusual simplicity and modest bulk, with an exception- 
 ally high back, is found in the collection of Baron Heinrich von Tucher, in Nu- 
 remberg; another is in the possession of Professor Otto Lanz, in Amsterdam. 
 
 What the cassapanca was in the common room, the throne, trono, was in 
 the state drawing-room of the palaces belonging to the foremost Florentine 
 families. From a sumptuous raised throne the high-born married couple re-' 
 ceived their guests in Republican Florence. The throne of the princely fam- 
 ilies of the Middle Ages, as in the Renaissance, consisted of an ample chair or a 
 bench with some gorgeous material thrown over it, behind which a baldachino 
 rose. By the annexation of the Bishop's Chair in the churches, Florence found 
 a fitting model for her rich patricians: a bench approached by two steps, hav- 
 ing a high back finished with a strong moulding. At the beginning of the Cin- 
 quecento this moulding occasionally projected far forward and then rested on 
 slender turned and carved pillars that were supported on the low side pieces. 
 
 Of the few thrones of this kind that have been preserved, the age is shown 
 in the inlaid ornament of the modest profile work, such as that of the throne 
 from the Filippo Strozzi palace in Florence, now in the possession of Baron 
 Moritz Rothschild of Paris (111. 27) ; the later ones of the first three decades of 
 the Cinquecento have besides a certain amount of carving of the finest concep- 
 tion and execution, as we are made to realize in the famous fresco — the Birth 
 of John— in the vestibule of the Annunziata at Florence (111. 26). The throne of 
 the young Giuliano dei Medici, whose statue is preserved in the Medici Chapel, 
 is one of this kind, of very tasteful construction. From the Nuti family, into 
 whose possession it had come through inheritance, it fell to Prince Demidoff, 
 who allowed it to be defaced by retouching and the introduction of modern 
 intarsia (111. 28). 
 
 We have very little information concerning the form and development, in 
 the earlier part of the Renaissance, of the most important furniture used for 
 seating — the chair. Since, especially among the originals from the fifteenth 
 century, comparatively few with an authentic history have been preserved, we 
 are practically dependent upon illustrations, paintings and embroidery of the 
 time, which in this matter are incomplete and not always trustworthy. The 
 chairs of earlier times are generally simple; the seat is apt to be low and made 
 of braided straw. The forms that since the beginning of the Cinquecento have 
 
 13 
 
been m(5st clearly defined: the stool, the straight chair without arms, and the 
 armchair, we find, to be sure, in the Quattrocento, but the rich artistic confor- 
 mation belongs to the before mentioned time. 
 
 The only known Florentine stool, sgabello, with rich decoration of the fif- 
 teenth century, now in the possession of Dr. Figdor, in Vienna (111. 29 and 30). 
 comes from the Palazzo Strozzi. It is ornamented above on both sides of the back, 
 with armorial bearings that in form and get up correspond exactly with the 
 arms on the reverse of the Filippo Strozzi medal; that also had its origin in 
 1480. Yet this is, particularly in its form, with its small high back, a very orig- 
 inal piece; the decoration is confined almost entirely to armorial bearings in 
 low relief as an upper finish to the back. In the sixteenth century the sgabello 
 was hardly less richly decorated than the chest, especially in Florence, where 
 this decoration was again carried out in carving, the effect of which they knew 
 how occasionally to heighten by gilding applied to certain parts. Excepting on 
 • the seat itself and the inside of the boards, the whole sgabello was as a rule 
 very elaborately carved; the decoration generally characterized well the re- 
 spective parts in their particular function. A dozen of these sgabelli close to- 
 gether, as, for example, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has a quan- 
 tity of the most beautiful ones in perfect condition, have the effect of being too 
 sumptuous, overladen; but in the large rooms of the Tuscan palace, that were ac- 
 cording to our ideas almost empty, as they were ranged along the sides and 
 grouped about the large table, the effect was well calculated and fine. We give a 
 few characteristic examples of the earlier sgabello as well as the richly carved 
 ones of a later time, particularly those privately owned in Paris, where there is 
 a greater number of them (111. 31 to 35). 
 
 We find the sgabello often without a back, as a hocker, sometimes four 
 sided and quite like the sgabello just described in construction and decoration, 
 sometimes three sided, which was the favorite form in Gothic times. The 
 hocker is generally somewhat lower than the typical sgabello. 
 
 The Renaissance chair was evolved from the ancient folding stool. The 
 folding chair made wholly of staves joined together, with a movable seat and a 
 removable back, called in Italy the Savonarola chair, in modern German cabinet 
 work designated with equal impropriety the Luther chair, had its artistic form 
 also in the fifteenth century. In Florence, however, this X chair in its simple 
 strong framework (generally of iron with bronze balls, compare 111. 36) was 
 as a rule either elaborately carved or bedecked with rich tapestries, at least in 
 the sixteenth century, among sumptuous surroundings; throughout that time it 
 was fitted up in textiles, braids, fringes, tassels, gilded bronze nails and balls 
 above on the back, in that luxurious yet tasteful manner, of which our modern 
 upholstery art shows no conception. While the sgabello was used particularly 
 <as a dining chair, the chair described was designed as a resting place as well 
 as a work chair. In a cassone picture of about 1480 a bronze chair of this form 
 appears, which was for the time made to serve as a dining chair. Chairs inlaid 
 with ivory "alia Cerlosina", that were made principally in Lombardy, and 
 folding chairs decorated with carving and indentations, from Venetia and the 
 
 14 
 
Marches, have been preserved in considerable numbers. An armchair of the 
 kind, in X form, of Florentine origin, shows comparatively little of its old 
 equipment (111. 37 and 37a), while many are found in the French and English 
 collections in new mounting with old textiles and fringe. A characteristic ex- 
 ample of the ordinary Florentine folding chair of an earlier time is given in our 
 illustrations (38 and 39). 
 
 Another kind of chair, the wall chair — as one might call it — since like the 
 cassapanca it was as a rule assigned a place at the side of the room, is dis- 
 tinguished from the typical chair only by its arms, its high back and large cir- 
 cumference, with the greater simplicity and the monumental form which this 
 entailed. In Florence, where we know it first in the Renaissance, it is generally 
 covered sumptuously in textiles, most often red velvet, more rarely leather, and 
 it is enriched with effective passamenterie work. Almost all of the back and the 
 seat, which, when the cross piece is lacking, reaches almost to the middle of the 
 framework, is covered with some textile. Cross pieces, backs, etc., are as a 
 rule uncovered, strong, straight, and almost plain. A good idea of the distinct- 
 ive appearance of these chairs is given in the illustrations (40 to 42). They 
 seem indeed to us today somewhat stiff and uncomfortable, but one must not 
 forget that they were made more comfortable by a large cushion thrown onto 
 the seat. 
 
 The typical chair, the sedia, retained its simple form and equipment up to 
 the time of the High Renaissance. As a rule the seat is of braided straw (gen- . 
 erally with a cushion on it when used in the houses, 111. 44), in the palace it was 
 covered with leather or velvet. In the High Renaissance the back, with the intro- 
 duction of a footboard, was ornamented by delicately turned rods and carv- 
 ing on the cross pieces. The low chair in our illustration, given again as an 
 example (111. 43), shows how comformity to purpose, good proportion and ef- 
 fective ornamentation were happily preserved, even in a sumptuous and orig- 
 inal expression. It has also a particular interest in that it is not only gilded 
 here and there but in part painted. In this also, as the color is harmonized with 
 the deep toned walnut and with the gold, the truly artistic spirit of the time 
 is shown. 
 
 The rooms of one of our important modern houses, even when they are not ■ 
 of such extraordinary size, are much like the principal room in a Florentine 
 palace if one could think of it as arranged for living, with a number of "etab- 
 lissements" of large and small tables in the middle of the room or in the cor- 
 ners and around the walls. The library in a modern English house, especially 
 the country house, and the drawing-room of the American millionaire, alone 
 come within any degree of relationship with the rooms of an Italian palace, 
 their arrangement after that manner making of them the choicest rooms. Many 
 of the great Halls are similarly fitted up. The Italians of the Renaissance, even 
 in the later time, when they had grown accustomed to luxury, were not con- 
 scious of such requirements. For them, before everything the room must be 
 large, for the reception of the assembled guests; no emphasis was then laid 
 on "comfort." As a rule we find in the Florentine drawing-room at most a 
 
 15 
 
table, four cornered, of an oblong shape, hardly as wide as our modern tables 
 but of noticeable, even unusual, length, generally between two and four meters 
 long. From its shape and size one might conclude that this table was particu- 
 larly designed as a dining-table; this seems, however, not to have been the case 
 in general. Almost all these tables are too high to use for dining; they are also 
 mostly too narrow for a dining-table (usually they are hardly a meter in 
 breadth). For this purpose, judging by paintings and engravings, within the 
 family a plain table was used, but for great banquets strong planks laid over 
 trestles served. These were covered by the large, splendid, linen table-cloth that 
 hung down almost to the floor and lay on the carpet. They were also occasional- 
 ly decorated, in a simple way, to be sure, as one example in Bardini's Villa Torre 
 del Gallo outside Florence witnesses. It came from the Palazzo Strozzi and 
 shows the arms of the Strozzi carved and framed in a delicate ornamentation. 
 In this the trestles have two legs on one side and on the other only one 
 straight leg. This simple form of portable table was used far into the sixteenth 
 century (111. 45). 
 
 The Florentine room table, if I may so call it, had a monumental form that 
 expressed size. It rested on two powerful double feet after an antique model; 
 broad richly ornamented plates turned vigorously outward on each side into a 
 lion foot and above, under the flat top, were generally decorated with a lion 
 head or mask. In the fifteenth century these tables (designed oily for rooms 
 on the ground floor) were also of marble (111. 46 from the Viiia Mici.eiozzo), in 
 the sixteenth century occasionally of bronze and marble. When they are of 
 wood they are rarely without the cross-piece, the "traversa," on account of the 
 great distance between the legs, and a support is generally placed in the space 
 between the plates, resting directly on the legs (111. 52). In the High Renais- 
 sance both, like the feet and the edge of the lop, are richly decorated. When the 
 i table was very large it had occasionally a third leg in the middle, or the join- 
 ing piece between the legs was set on the floor instead of being in the middle 
 of the space or near the top, in which case it rested as a flat slab unchangeably 
 on the floor, furnishing an excellent counterpoise to the table top. A large 
 table, now privately owned by an American (111. 53), gives a particularly fav- 
 orable view of the taste and the architectural spirit of the Florentine cabinet 
 maker of the Cinquecento, under the influence of Michelangelo's style of dec- 
 oration. The large table, more than five meters in length, in the Raphael- 
 Tapetensaal of the Berlin Museum, a characteristic example, bears witness that 
 here also the natural hue of the wood was not fully appreciated, as it was cov- 
 ered over with a thin reddish color. It is Venetian work, done soon after the 
 middle of the Cinquecento. 
 
 The large round table was not customarily used to write on; the writing 
 table had from the early Middle Ages its individual form, and as a rule a 
 special room also, which in time became the library. This form, known to all 
 through miniatures and paintings, especially those representing the Church 
 Fathers, is that of the writing-desk. Many of them had compartments that 
 could be closed. They were placed on the sides of the chairs and had a slanting 
 surface to write on. In the sixteenth century this piece stood by itself as a 
 
small light writing-desk in inlaid wood or covered with finely ornamented 
 leather or textile. It could be used in any room and on any table where one 
 might wish to place it (compare 111. 130). Of these small top desks a number, 
 even from the fifteenth century, are preserved. 
 
 With increasing requirements small tables gradually appeared that 
 were designed to be moved about in a room when necessary. In the Quattro- 
 cento these tables, of which only a few are of assured Florentine origin, were 
 mostly of vigorous form, with strong round, or oftener hexagonal or octagonal, 
 tops (many with drawers in them), one foot in the shape of a slender vase, with * 
 three or four legs in the form of dolphins or lion feet, and the like (111. 47-51). 
 In the Cinquecento they were lighter and much richer in their decorations (111. 
 53). It is astonishing in what varied and tasteful ways they were fashioned on 
 the same ground form, how effective they are and with what uniformity legs and 
 tops are regularly designed. In the larger forms they have generally a light 
 ioot-board between the two great feet (111. 54) ; toward the end of the century 
 these came into more common use, with four slender legs, not bounci together. 
 
 The true wardrobe, indispensible in the sacristies and to some extent also 
 in the public buildings, developed in diverse ways, was an exception in the 
 Italian dwelling-house of the Renaissance. Instead of clothes closets and linen 
 closets the Italian used chests; in the place of cases for books and household 
 utensils as a rule he made use of a cavity in the wall that was in most cases 
 open or partitioned. The credenza only, is for the Italian the favorite piece.* 
 Even in the Early Renaissance it held its characteristic form as a one-storied ' 
 broad cupboard with several doors. It was of medium height, which made it • 
 possible to use the top as a sideboard. The credenza held this form almost 
 without change until the Baroque period; the effective architectural construc- 
 tion, following the style of the time, is brought out only through smooth profile 
 work, and ornament, at first of intarsia alone, later of carving (111. 
 56-59). The very wide credenze, of which 111. 55 shows a good example, seem 
 to have found employment only in the refectories. They have several double 
 doors and are curved on the sides in a tasteful manner, as contemporary chest 
 pictures show. As early as the Quattrocento they had the same form, and were 
 then embellished with intarsia ornament. 
 
 In the Cinquecento, especially in Florence, the small credenza was a fav- 
 orite. In its higher form it resembles a low cabinet; it has one door or a 
 double door and in decoration adheres closely to the large credenze (111. 64 and 
 65). In the art trade they have frequently made over the bedside bench of the 
 same period into such a credenzina by combining with it a box of similar shape, 
 after taking away the kneeling board. 
 
 An unusual form of credenza appeared in Tuscany in the middle of the 
 Cinquecento. As 111. 66 shows, this piece has a strong projecting set of drawers 
 resting on protruding supports of volute form; the flat top is embellished with 
 a decoration resembling Roman moulding, with triglyph and drop. The lower 
 part has a wide double door. 
 
 The small credenza, high and narrow, prepared the way for the cabinet, 
 
 17 
 
which, as has been said, was not widely used as house furniture during the 
 Renaissance. 
 
 Our modern commode is nearly related to a larger piece of a kind that is 
 known to me only through the one in the illustration again referred to (111. 
 'Jl), that was in an art shop in Florence years ago. Our illustration shows the 
 construction; the decoration in intarsia is made up of simple palmetto friezes, 
 the drawing of which permits the conclusion that it had its origin soon after 
 the middle of the fifteenth century. Its character is true Tuscan even when 
 the piece perhaps originated in Urbino or in some other place outside Tuscany, 
 for the artist was then probably one of the many Florentine or Sienese crafts- 
 men who worked away from their homes. 
 
 Our modern cabinet is similar to the writing cabinet. This had its rise in 
 the course of the Quattrocento, as facility in writing became universal. It was 
 designed partly to supply the need for something in which to preserve letters 
 and other papers, as well as to hold the writing utensils, and partly that all 
 these things might be conveniently at hand. The form of this old Italian writ- 
 ing cabinet, which is evidently Florentine, has remained practically unchanged 
 even to our time. Of moderate size, almost twice as high as long, it had an 
 upper and a lower part. The under part in exceptional cases and in earlier 
 times was of table form, but was commonly designed as a cabinet with two 
 doors. On it rested the slightly projecting upper part which was of about 
 equal height, and harbored behind a folding leaf, or plate, the numerous little 
 articles for facilitating the work of writing, etc. This leaf when open served 
 as a writing table. The earliest pieces of the kind, known to me, are mostly 
 decorated with rich and tasteful intarsia; in the High Renaissance, on the other 
 hand, the cabinet maker had quite enough to do to satisfy the lust for carving 
 on the writing cabinet; the estimation in which it was held by the giver of the 
 commission corresponded. They easily did too much here, even of what was good, 
 as in that singular, and at one time very much prized, variety of cabinet, of 
 deep-toned and very effective walnut, with pillar-like groups of small figures 
 built one over the other on the sides of the cabinet, and with similarly treated 
 moulding decorated with figures (111. 61). Even when the best of the cabinets, 
 in construction and tone, and in their proportions and profile, have a fine strong 
 effect, in such productions the understanding the good Florentine cabinet mak- 
 ers had of how to treat the body, does not as a rule come out. My recollection 
 of a pair of such writing cabinets in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg (from the 
 Basilewski collection) is that they were unusually beautiful. The embellish- 
 ment, although at times too rich in ornament, deserves a first place among these 
 rigure decorations (111. 60). 
 
 From paintings and wood-engravings we see that the writing table as a 
 rule had a small slanting top piece that in many cases was removable. In con- 
 struction, which is determined by its object, it shows hardly any change during 
 the entire Renaissance; in the fifteenth century it was generally ornamented 
 with intarsia, but in the beginning of the High Renaissance we find with that, 
 or instead of it, decoration through carving. One of the rarely preserved 
 
 18 
 
pieces, in the possession of Otto Beit in London (compare 111. 130), is adorned 
 on the sides with Nereids in high relief, that betray the hand of the skilful 
 Florentine wood carvers who in 1520 produced the richly carved chests. 
 
 The high two-piece cabinet seems to have come more especially from up- 
 per Italy, where it really was adopted from the north. The few examples yet 
 existing of the Gothic cabinet show here a close relationship with contempor- 
 ary Tyrol furniture. Yet more similar are the few cabinets of the High Renais- 
 sance that have come down to us (111. 62 and 63). The higher upper part is 
 built upon a low under section ; both have double doors and the characteristic 
 architectural members and ornaments of the Cinquecento. The two pieces 
 illustrated here come from a Florentine art shop, but they originated in Brescia. 
 
 A one-storied high cabinet now in the Krefeld K. Wilhelm-Museum, the 
 rich decoration indicating a period shortly after the middle of the Cinquecento, 
 corresponds somewhat with out modern wardrobe. But neither this nor the 
 two section caoinet seems really to have been adopted in Italy. They put away 
 their clothing in the chests, and for the food, they did not use the cupboard, 
 as in the North, but the credenza instead. 
 
 The bookcase, the libreria, though also rare, appears occasionally in the • 
 Florentine dwelling-house. Usually it had, as in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries, several partitions, after the fashion of the wall cupboard. Such a 
 bookcase, about six meters in width, divided into several sections, which makes 
 it easy to move about, is owned by Prince Johann Liechtenstein, in Eisgrub 
 (111. 67). It is of very good proportion and simply but tastefully decorated in 
 High Renaissance forms that indicate a period about the middle of the six- 
 teenth century. A small example of this style in the Kaiser Friedrich-Muscum . 
 in Berlin has, like the Liechtenstein bookcase, the lower part closed with two 
 doors, the upper part open, with a wire screen over it; it is delicately orna- 
 mented and gilded here and there. How rich and splendid these bookcases 
 occasionally were in the Quatrocento is proved by the information we have that 
 Lionello d'Este in 1434 purchased, on account of its artistic form, a libreria 
 that had been made for Paolo Giunigi, in Lucca, twenty years earlier. 
 
 Among the occasional furniture of the Florentine room there were some 
 small pieces, notably pedestals for busts, the wall mirror, and the clothes 
 rack. They came out first, so far as we know, in the second half of the fifteenth 
 century. The busts of the Quattrocento, usually cut off smooth under the 
 shoulders or under the bust, had their place on the moulding of the chimney or 
 the doors. In the High Renaissance first, following Roman examples, they 
 cut the bust only once, and placed it on a small pedestal which, on a higher 
 stand, was put in the particular place in the room assigned to it. These stands, 
 sgabelloni, were in the sixteenth century mostly carved out of wood and were 
 formed of two narrow slanting boards, slightly diminishing at the top, that 
 terminated below in lion feet. They are effectively decorated in more or less 
 low relief and are held together by a flat shelf-like top. In all but the upper 
 section it follows almost exactly the form of the sgabello, from which it has bor- 
 rowed the name. Our illustrations (68-71) present a pair of effective examples 
 
 19 
 
of such Florentine sgabelloni from the middle of the sixteenth century; the 
 one with simple vigorous carving and deep in tone, the other decorated richly 
 in low relief and lighter in tone, being gilded here and there. In the Cinque- 
 cento, a vigorously carved mask formerly constituted the middle piece of the 
 decoration (111. 71). More rare are the painted stands, of which 111. 70 shows 
 a striking example, that originated in Rome, but is now in the Kaiser Friedrich- 
 Museum. 
 
 The hand-glass, the most indispensible article for the satisfaction of human 
 vanity, and for that reason made by the oldest of civilized peoples, often richly 
 and artistically worked out, was throughout the Middle Ages a favorite 
 piece. The wall-mirror, on the other hand, like the rarer stand-mirror (an 
 extraordinarily beautiful example of which, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 
 we return to: 111. 76), seems to have appeared first toward the end of the 
 Middle Ages. The polished metal could, however, only be used in small pieces, 
 and after the invention of the glass this also had in the beginning a very 
 small surface, so that both at a certain distance and in a light not particularly 
 strong, are undistinguishable, differing little from each other. The convex 
 glass mirror, that in the North made its appearance at the beginning of the 
 fifteenth century, known to all lovers of art, through Jan van Eyck's double 
 portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini ar.d his wife, was more suited to compress- 
 ing into a small compass a picturesque view of the room than it was to reflect 
 human features; it was quite unsuitable for use in the toilet. 
 • In Italy, so far as I know, wall-mirrors came in during the fifteenth 
 century with the improvement of the setting and polish of the larger plates, 
 in Florence and Venice they appeared almost simultaneously. The frames of 
 the Florentine mirrors, very nearly related to the picture frames and like them 
 in the richness and tastefulness of their composition, as in their perfection of 
 style, are yet characteristically worked out. The frame enclosing the valuable 
 picture is only designed to close it up and at the same time to mount it; it was 
 proportionately small in the Renaissance, especially in Florence. The plate of 
 the mirror, generally small (about 20-30 centimeters in height, the width being 
 a little less) and not without its own charm, is also dazzling. It was on that 
 account usually hidden by a painted sliding cover; so the mirror gets its artist- 
 ic worth principally from the frame, that is proportionately large and as richly 
 decorated as possible. How costly and how valued was the possession of the 
 mirror at this time is evidenced by the fact that no other piece of furniture is 
 so uniformly fine in its proportions, so delicate in its profile work, so choice 
 and so finished in the drawing and carrying out of the ornamentation, as the 
 mirror of the sixteenth century. 
 
 A considerable number of these mirrors, some excellent specimens of the 
 kind, are found in the collections of Paris and in single examples in the mus- 
 eums, notably in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Of these illustrated here, 
 one (111. 74) is characterized as a work dating from the beginning of the High 
 Renaissance. It shows, not only in the style, with interchanging high and low 
 relief and strong and weak ornament, but in the classic working out of the 
 
 20 
 
same, that the wood-carvers, in their art hardly inferior to the contemporary 
 sculptors, constructed such pieces. The unusual and at times peculiar motives, 
 quite freely worked out, that slip into the decoration of the top, especially when 
 it is light and hence particularly rich, betray the same imagination and senti- 
 ment that was disclosed in the earliest work of the pioneer masters in the plas- 
 tic art of the High Renaissance, pre-eminent among them, Andrea Sansovino. 
 All the coiled serpent forms, and naked putti whose limbs come out of flaming 
 vases and whose hands hold flames, every upright shield, every serpent or fish 
 form with human masks, string course of rolled up volutes, and similar inven- 
 tions, that followed a preference for heavy allegorical representations under 
 the influence of the discovery at that time of ancient Grotesques in Rome — all 
 these, in a close resemblance, we find in Andrea Sansovino's altar niche in S. 
 Spirito in Florence, in his monuments in S. Maria del Popolo, Aracu'li, and 
 other places. They present a singular mixture of immature, fantastic motives 
 in exaggerated, unconventional forms of decoration, into which a wild Baroque 
 element seems to slip; but through the predominance of beautiful, effective 
 contours, and through the modest subjection of the heterogeneous details, in 
 the whole effect they mostly escape the eye. It is a characteristic sign of the 
 soundness of the craft of the artistic element at this time that these hetero- 
 geneous motives were quickly rejected or only used in a conventionalized form. 
 
 The vigorous, over-laden forms of that part of the Renaissance before con- 
 sidered, under the influence of Michelangelo, appeared in the small wall-mirrors 
 with as advantageous an effect as those of an earlier time, and become, through 
 the fine toned color of the wood, the gilding of the higher parts and the deep 
 bronze colored tone due to time, so increased in importance that is compre- 
 hensible that these pieces have for decades been bought up with great partiality 
 by the most difficult and the richest of collectors. The mirror in our illustra- 
 tion, formerly in the possession of the Kaiserin Friedrich (111. 75), is a good 
 example; it still has its old cover in the form of a picture in the style of Vasari. 
 On a similar simple mirror (111. 73) this cover is of wood with intarsia. 
 
 The chimney-piece held its important place during the Renaissance and • 
 consequently often reached in the palaces and villas a rich and artistic perfec- 
 tion; its fitting up, however, remained, in Florence, very simple. While in 
 Venice the andirons (alari) were rich constructions of bronze terminating in a 
 figure, those of Florence, as in the Middle Ages, were commonly of iron and 
 comparatively simple in form. Yet they are beautiful in construction and often 
 of a very fine finish in a restrained style, as are also the tongs, shovels and 
 other fireplace fittings, that are handled in the same way. Unusual luxury in* 
 carving was expended on the bellows, the decoration following very closely the 
 character of the carved chests in the style of the younger San Gallo, of the 
 Tassi, of Baccio d'Agnolo, and others. Especially beautiful examples are shown 
 in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (111. 77 and 79). 
 
 The clothes rack, attaceapanno, or capellinaro, was also very artistically 
 set up by the Florentines. Many remain from the sixteenth century; from the 
 fifteenth century I know only one, that was formerly in the possession of 
 
 21 
 
Stefano Bardini; judging by the armorial bearings on it, it belonged originally 
 to Duke Federico of Urbino. A board arranged for hanging, with four turned 
 clothes hooks affixed to it, is framed with very much stretched consoles on the 
 sides, that support the vigorous moulding and rest on a small ledge which 
 serves as a lower finish. The decoration is of simple intarsia in which the 
 great Montelfeltre coat-of-arms that occupies the middle space is worked out 
 in detail. The capellinari from the Cinquecento are in construction essentially 
 the same, only they are lower and generally broader, enabling them to hold a 
 greater number of delicately turned wooden pegs for the reception of clothes 
 and hats, as our illustrations (80 and 81) show. The framing corresponds sub- 
 stantially with contemporaneous picture frames, and like these, it is occasion- 
 ally relieved with gold. Some lac dyes that are from time to time brought into 
 the armorial bearings increase the richness of these characteristic pieces that on 
 account of the taste of the Florentine artist-craftsmen are particularly notable 
 (111. 81). A distinctive type of furniture — the reading ' desk, leggio, found 
 a use at times even in the living-rooms. 
 
 We must also bring out another piece from among the house furnishings 
 
 • of the Renaissance: the bed, letto, lettiere, or lettuccio, as it was in its old 
 large form commonly called. It belongs among the most important of the fur- 
 nishings of the Renaissance and has been correspondingly handled. The 
 bed of a married couple of high rank stood in the wife's room, the beds of the' 
 married sons and daughters, in the rooms assigned to them. In the wife's room 
 the extraordinarily capacious bed was a real "mobile immobile" that, exactly 
 
 • as in the Middle Ages, extended chest-like to the floor and had a high tread- 
 board or a low bench running around it, that was fitted up as a chest. All 
 
 • these things made this feature so important that the effect of the apartment of 
 the mistress of the house was determined by the bed, as was that of the recep- 
 
 . tion room by the throne or the cassapanca. While from the Trecento a simple 
 painted bedstead, rich with figure decorations, is preserved in the Ospedale del 
 Ceppo in Pistoja (dated 1337), for the later Quattrocento the bed in the Palazzo 
 Davanzati (from Citta di Castello — sold in America?) offers almost the only 
 fully preserved and very characteristic example. Contemporaneous pictures 
 and illustrations present us with rich material for clearing up the history 
 of beds in Tuscany during the Renaissance. I recall a pair of the best known 
 frescoes in Florence; for the Quattrocento, Ghirlandajo's "Birth of John the 
 Baptist", in the Novella; for the Early Cinquecento, Andrea del Sarto's famous 
 composition with the same subject, in the fore-court of the Annunziata (com- 
 
 j pare 111. 26). In keeping with its size and immobility the bed was, even in the 
 advanced High Renaissance, simple and mostly straight lined in form and 
 smooth in decoration; later this was restricted in general to a few intarsia orna- 
 ments, in the Cinquecento to modest decoration in carving. The baldachino 
 also, that in Venice, for example, was seldom lacking, with its sumptuous fit- 
 tings over the head of the bed, seems to have made its first appearance in 
 Florence in the course of the sixteenth century. It was then customarily sup- 
 ported on four pillars, and a painting adorned the cover. 
 
 11 
 
Occasionally, however, in the later time, extraordinarily sumptuous beds 
 were constructed, especially for princely personages. These were sometimes 
 inlaid with costly woods, ivory, and even with precious metals, sometimes 
 carved richly or set off with small pictures by eminent painters. Such pieces 
 came into the palace with the outfit of the bride and were then its principal 
 show piece, judging by the description of such (as house furniture quite com- 
 mon) bridal beds by Vasari and others of the time. Mentioning a bed of the 
 sort, that Pier Francesco Borgherini commissioned Baccio d'Agnolo to carve 
 and Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Granacci and Bacchiacca to paint, Vasari 
 relates a story about the wife of its possessor, Margherita Acciajuoli, that in 
 the absence of her husband she energetically refused the high offer made by the 
 agent of Francis I of France for this sumptuous bed, for the king. 
 
 A small couch on short turned feet, resembling the modern chaise longue, 
 is one of the same type, transmitted through the Rococo; but in its fittings, 
 with mattress, under-bed, pillows and sheets, it is exactly like a bed. This ap- 
 peared somewhat after the beginning of the sixteenth century. Its plain form 
 was designed to promote comfort and its fitting up was entirely an affair of 
 the upholsterers. Not one remaining piece is known to me, yet we see it quite 
 often in paintings by Giulio, Romano and Titian, and in Marc Antonio prints, 
 etc. With the bed the cradle also came out in the Renaissance. The examples 
 in the Kunstgewerbe-Museen in Cologne and Berlin give a good idea of their 
 artistic conformation. 
 
 The walls in the rooms of Florentine palaces and houses, as in upper Tus^ 
 cany, were at the time of the Renaissance as a rule smooth, and decorated with* 
 different kinds of flat designs, such as came to light when the old houses of 
 the Mercato Vecchio were torn down, and as they appear in the restoration of 
 the Palazzo Davanzati at Florence. We find panelling only very exceptionally, • 
 while walls hung with stuffs were equally rare. The walls of the sleeping rooms 
 were occasionally covered with hangings of small animals' skins pieced together, 
 though only in winter, for warmth. Only the wealthiest could in the sixteenth* 
 century enjoy the luxury of a tapestry wall covering (hung only for entertain- 
 ments), as French tapestries and those from the Netherlands were very costly. 
 Even among the Medici possessions in the fifteenth century these were included 
 only as rarities, the inventories show. Oftener the Gobelins were used for 
 backs to the benches, spallieri, and as curtains to the doors, usciali; they 
 were for the most part decorated simply with small plants and animals, with 
 coats-of-arms woven in. The art of tapestry weaving spread into Italy in 1430, - 
 through weavers from Flanders who were first called to Venice and Mantua. 
 Soon after the middle of the fifteenth century tapestry weavers from the Neth- 
 erlands, who had settled in Ferrara, came for a time to Florence from Siena, 
 where they had worked for six years, but during the whole Quattrocento the 
 work carried out here was insignificent and small in amount. Later the revolu- 
 tion in Florence prevented any development of the Gobelin industry. With the 
 idea of founding a Gobelin factory, Cosimo, in 1545, summoned the Nether- 
 landers Nicolas Karcher and Jan Rost from Ferrara. Thanks to the interest of 
 
 23 
 
this prince the factory was quickly brought into a flourishing state; what they 
 made at that time is far superior to contemporaneous productions in other parts 
 of Italy, and is in design as well as in color, quite original. The distinctive tap- 
 estry character is better preserved in these than in the picture types of Flanders 
 Gobelins of the fifteenth and particularly the sixteenth centuries. The wall tap- 
 estries that are preserved in the Galleria degli Arazzi of the Archjuological 
 Museum in Florence and those in foreign countries, that were executed by 
 Karcher from cartoons by Bacchiacca, Bronzino and Fr. Salviati, offer an in- 
 teresting retrospective view of wall decoration, especially in Florence. The 
 decoration is at its best when it consists of ornament; such work is fantastic 
 and delicate in construction, light and soft, with its colors on a golden ground, 
 showing technique at times of the highest perfection. These, especially of the 
 two Bacchiacca rooms, that are among the most sumptuous and finished, equally, 
 on the whole, anything in tapestry work that has been created. Related, but *J 
 
 • even lighter, is the drawing of the decorative paint and plaster ornament of / 
 the ceiling, and the similar painted glass in the windows. Lastly, Oriental 
 
 •carpets, possessed in greater or less number by every prominent Florentine 
 house after the fifteenth century, complete the color effect. 
 
 In spite of their large ar.d vigorous forms and the considerable space they 
 occupied, certain pieces of furniture in the Florentine rooms of the Renaissance 
 had a tendency rather to enhance the spacious effect and the architectural pro- 
 portions of the room; this was because of their straight monumental form and 
 . the fact that they were suited to their position against the wall. The rich 
 ' and colorful composition and equipment of the floors, ceilings and walls, that 
 
 • in their light hues and delicate drawing strengthened the large and roomy ef- 
 
 • feet, gave to the furniture a remarkably distinguished and magnificent appear- 
 . ance. The painted walls, occasionally with panelling decorated in gay colored 
 i intarsia, or covered with textile, the vaulted blue tinted ceilings of the ground 
 ' floor rooms, the painted and gilded wood ceilings, and floor of mosarc in col- 
 
 • ored stone or in Robbia tiles, were during the whole fifteenth century in keep- 
 
 • ing with the furniture, inlaid as it was with different woods, and gilded, painted, 
 
 • or fitted up in gorgeous colored stuffs. In the sixteenth century when the 
 walls were covered with the restful Gobelins and later with textile fabrics, 
 when the ceilings were constructed of brown wood lighted up with gold, only 
 rarely painted, or the white vaulting had a light decoration of painted plaster, 
 and when the floor showed a simple pattern of mat colored stone flags, the 
 wood of the furniture retained its own color, only made a little deeper by toning, 
 and occasionally lighted up with fine toned gilding. For this reason it was 
 enlivened with strong profile work and projections, as well as through carv- 
 ing, and made, with the rich colors of the cushioning, pillows, covers and car- 
 pets, an effective contrast. 
 
 We can with difficulty form a conception of the individuality and variety 
 of the richness and the sumptuosity of a Florentine palace or a Florentine 
 villa, or of the repose and harmony of the whole, because of the lack of archi- 
 tectural and color sense from which our time still suffers in spite of ostensible 
 
 24 
 
progress; for such rooms, in their perfection, unfortunately no longer exist. 
 Complete old rooms and house Fittings, like the Swiss rooms that the Swiss 
 Landesmuseum brings out in such considerable numbers, have not been pre- 
 served from the same period in Italy, nor were they rescued in time by the 
 museums. The few attempts to reconstruct such rooms in the museums have 
 generally been made in modern apartments spoiled by unfortunate propor 
 lions and decorations, and it has usually been done by throwing together 
 smaller and more or less ruined pieces from different parts of Italy, belonging 
 to different periods, in a careless and overloaded arrangement, if not in the 
 manner of a shop. Far happier is the design of the Palazzo Davanzati at Flor 
 ence, with truly antique decorations and real untouched furniture, mostly Flor- 
 entine oi the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 The truest picture, however, that we can have is that obtained from the repre 
 sentations of these things in the frescos, paintings and illustrations, even if 
 they are generally treated as accessories and are too incomplete. 
 
 Almost until the close of the High Renaissance Siena maintained its in- 
 dependence against its old rival, Florence, in the art of furniture making, in 
 spite of the relationship, as completely as in high art. Unfortunately little 
 remains in its place and position, and what has come into the dealers' hands 
 has been sold from Florence, and generally passes as Florentine. Siena is 
 especially lacking in enough furniture of the fifteenth century for us to lay 
 hold of, but since the house furnishings of the sixteenth century were in kind 
 and form very closely related to those of Florence, we may well assume that 
 the same is true of the earlier time. In the Cinquecento the furniture of 
 Siena was characterized by a large and fine simplicity and severity of form, 
 with richness and originality in ornament. Siena had at that time architects 
 like Peruzzi, and wood carvers and decorators like Barile and Marrii.a; ?ucn, 
 and similar artists have influenced the decoration of the furniture of their 
 native city, and have themselves occasionally made it. The richly carve-J 
 ^unfortunately much worked over) casket by Barile, preserved in the Town 
 Hall (111. 85), is as fine in construction as it is in ornament. Characteristic in 
 form and decoration of a somewhat later time is a chest embellished with 
 delicate intarsia, with the Piccolomini arms, in the Kaiser Friedrich-inuseum 
 (111. 84). That the throne also was not unknown in the large palaces ; s in- 
 dicated by a striking piece that is now in the possession of the Berliner Kunst- 
 gewerbe-Museum. It is richly gilded on plaster ornament against a blue- 
 toned ground. The Hebraic inscriptions on the panels, that shine through 
 the later painting over, betray the fact that it came from a synagogue (111. 
 86). The old bench is missing and is replaced in the museum by a later 
 chest of about the same size. The ornamentation in the style of Lorenzo 
 Marrina shows the origin of this throne to have been Siena. It is believed to 
 have been constructed for one of the palaces and later presented to a syna- 
 gogue. It seems to me more likely that it was in the first place designed for 
 the latter, as the church throne that came over from the Gothic period, and 
 the Bishop's chair at the side of the high altar, furnished models for similar 
 
 25 
 
pieces in the Tuscan palaces. The nearly related form and similar decoration, 
 as well as the castor, which is found on church furniture in the cabinet work 
 of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, make this seem probable. Paintings 
 and miniatures show that also in the Gothic period the throne, even without 
 decorations, was recognized as a piece of house furniture. 
 
 From among the Sienese credenze of this period the Kaiser Friedrich- 
 Museum has a three-sided piece of about 1530-1540 (111. 89) that in its 
 unusually fine proportions and profile work, as in the very effectively disposed, 
 delicate, almost purely architectural ornament, clearly indicates the style and 
 art method of Peruzzi. A somewhat later, two-sided credenza often appearing, 
 is not quite so fine on account of the stronger projection of this ornamentation. 
 A good example is shown in 111. 59. As closely related are the Florentine and 
 Sienese tables of the same period, as the table three meters long, from the 
 Palazzo Palmieri in Siena, bearing the arms of the family, proves (111. 87). 
 This is now the property of H. V. Sickart, of Vienna. On a writing cabinet 
 of about the same period (approximately 1540) we find characteristic orna- 
 ment of a similar kind, while the writing tablet is decorated with intarsia. 
 Among the cabinets from Siena a few have been preserved that give us an 
 idea of the painted furniture, as Vasari described it. Such was the three-sided 
 painted cabinet for arms in the Palazzo Davanzati ; the decoration in a design 
 which included weapons was painted in Sodoma's workshop (111. 90). 
 
 The furniture of the Renaissance in Umbria on the west side of the 
 Apennines, especially in Perugia, has a Tuscan character but with an individual 
 stamp. Yet, like the Sienese furniture (since it also has not been recognized as 
 such when it has fallen into the dealers' hands) it has been little studied, so 
 we must limit ourselves in characterizing it. The Tuscan influence is felt in 
 the same degree in the furniture that, according to indications, originated in 
 the Duchy of Urbino, which, having a close political connection with Florence, 
 fell more under her influence at the time of the Renaissance than did Siena. 
 Duke Federigo entrusted to prominent Florentine artists the decoration of 
 the rooms of his new palace, in which admirable wainscoting with intarsia is 
 still preserved in its place and position. Among a few noteworthy chests, put 
 together with smooth boards and decorated only with separate, very simple, geo- 
 metrical ornaments, either burned in or inlaid (111. 92, Bardini Collection, Flor- 
 ence), another type survives from the Middle Ages. A small casket of the same 
 time (111. 15) and a unique commode, similar in construction to the credenza 
 (111. 91), follow the Tuscan model in the simple palmetto decoration in carving 
 and intarsia, of strong slightly peasant-like composition. In a clothes rack, 
 with the arms of Duke Federigo (Bardini Collection), the same style is shown 
 in the form and in the intarsia in a finer way. 
 
 26 
 
VENICE AND THE MAINLAND 
 
 The subordination of Venetian furnishings to the Venetian dwelling-house 
 is particularly striking. Because of the position of Venice, in the midst of the 
 sea, on a number of small islands cut through by numerous canals, these 
 have a very peculiar form and ground plan, which has its effect in turn on 
 Venetian furniture. On this account it differs more or less from that of the 
 rest of Italy. 
 
 The house of the noble like that of the wealthy Venetian stood, and stands * 
 today, with its front on a canal — where possible on the Canale Grande — with 
 its back toward a street. It has an entrance on both sides; the main entrance 
 is, however, on the canal, as the gondola furnishes to Venice its only means of 
 intercourse. The street entrance led through a small court or close by it. 
 These entrances open on both sides into a long low vestibule, that runs 
 straight through the whole house from the canal to the court; on each side 
 are the rooms devoted to household affairs. The stairs go up at one side, not 
 quite so narrow but almost as steep as those in the palaces of Florence. 
 These lead to the main floor, which is disposed in the same way. Over the en- 
 trance hall, or rather corridor, lies, in the same form and dimensions, the 
 large main room, generally higher than on the ground floor and much lighter, 
 as it is closed at both ends with high windows in arcades: a vestibuie for the 
 small connecting living-rooms on each side, and at the same time a reception 
 and entertainment hall, the favorite abiding place of the Venetian, and suited 
 to him, with its long sides embellished galierywise with paintings and Gobelins. 
 In the story above are the bedrooms and other connecting rooms. In the oldest 
 and most contracted parts or the city the stairs had their place in the court, 
 as an open stairway, or tower-like with winding steps going up to the highest 
 story. 
 
 Simplicity and roominess, which were the characteristic features of this* 
 plan, were reflected proportionally in the house furnishings, during the Gothic 
 period as in the Renaissance, the Baroque, and the Rococo. The antique fitting up 
 of the rooms in the Doge's Palace and in certain schools, as well as in a few pal- 
 aces — of a later period, indeed — gives us today a fairly true picture of the 
 Venetian palace ot the Renaissance. No built-in furniture, no great pieces or * 
 established groups, hindered a comprehensive glance or free movement, espec- 
 ially in the large main room. The furniture was more often restricted to the 
 walls; it ran around the sides in the form of benches, mostly attached to the 
 wainscot, or as chests, while tables and beds rested against the walis in the 
 bedrooms. Over the benches the walls were hung with long low Gobelins • 
 in an all-over pattern of verdure and finished above with a border. There were, 
 with all kinds of household utensils for daily use, candlesticks, lamps, boxes, 
 
 27 
 
vases, etc., for the rich; for scholars and art amateurs, all kinds of small art crea- 
 tions, old and new, with instruments, books and similar possessions. Large 
 paintings or Gobelins decorated the walls of the salon, a small mirror or a 
 painting those of the other rooms; before everything there was in chese rooms 
 a "Grecian" Madonna in a rich tabernacle, with a small lamp and a costly silk 
 curtain before it, which also shielded the mirror. 
 
 When we attempt to find out about these pieces of the Renaissance period 
 in detail we encounter extraordinary difficulties. While we can refer to a 
 hundred Florentine chests of the fifteenth century, while tables and credenze 
 are yet preserved in considerable numbers, and of other kinds of furniture of 
 the Quattrocento at least one or more can be found, for the period from the 
 Middle Ages to this time, we have nothing to say; so far as I know, with the 
 exception of a few mirrors and small fittings of the kind, hardly a piece re- 
 mains. And yet the equipment of the Venetian houses was, as the carefully 
 made inventories left behind prove, unusually sumptuous. Venice has, thanks 
 to its position, almost entirely escaped plundering, earthquakes, ravaging fires 
 and the like misfortunes, that in other places have wrought fearful havot 
 among arc works and furnishings. How this complete lack of all furniture 
 from earner times can be explained, is a puzzle. For the deterioration of the 
 city and of almost all its families since the Napoleonic era does not alone 
 offer a sufficient explanation for this state of things, since the old furniture, that 
 until the middle of the nineteenth century was almost entirely disregarded and 
 worthless, would have been, under such wretched conditions as those of Venice 
 at this time, the more likely to be kept in their attics or even in con- 
 tinued use. Probably it was due much more to the fact that up to the time 
 when she lost her power, Venice was rich and flourishing, exhibiting the great- 
 est luxury; in consequence she played a similar role to that of Paris from the 
 time the decree went forth that the house also should always be fitted up in 
 modern style; hence old furniture was generally banished, after which it rapidly 
 went to ruin. But even so, it is difficult to understand why — to mention only 
 one example — of the many thousand chests, decorated with painting, carving, 
 or inlaid work, that according to the inventories in the last decades of the 
 fifteenth century were in the Venetian houses (in every house of a family of 
 any standing there were one or two dozen of these mentioned in the inventor- 
 ies), only a very few are preserved. 
 
 As in the Florentine house, so in the Venetian, the most important piece 
 of furniture is the chest, the cassa, or the forzier, as it was called in Venice. 
 Truly it played here a more important role than in Florence. We find in the 
 inventories of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries ten or 
 twelve, sometimes twenty or more, chests mentioned, and even partly described, 
 but with them hardly a table or so much as a chair or stool. It may be in part 
 because this everyday furniture, especially in the Quattrocento, was so plain 
 and worthless that it was not particularly specified. But it is evident 
 what importance the chests had at that time and that these before all other 
 pieces they loved to have finished artistically. 
 
 28 
 
In fact the chest represented in Venice not only the wardrobe and com* 
 mode, but also in part the chair and table. Venetian chests were as a rule low, 
 with a flat top, and were used as benches to sit on ; occasionally, however, they 
 were very high, and then they were used as tables. The paintings and woodcuts 
 give a good idea of both. The conventional scant handling of the woodcut at 
 the end of the Quattrocento gives the furniture only in a very modelled and 
 rudimentary form; for the details we depend on the short descriptions in con- 
 temporary inventories and on conclusions drawn from the chests that we have 
 from the Cinquecento and contemporary Tuscan pieces, respectively. To go by 
 these, the early Venetian chests, when they were artistically finished, which in 
 the houses of the well-to-do often, if not mostly, was the case, were either 
 painted or decorated with inlaid work, the first, as a rule. The usual chests ' 
 showed the arms of the owner and had ornamentation on a colored ground, 
 the finer ones being decorated with figure compositions. The rarer intarsia 
 chests, generally high and rectangular, were used as tables for the reception of 
 small objects, or to rest the hand on (compare 111. on page 7). Carved chests 
 were apparently rare in Venice until the beginning of the Cinquecento, and 
 they are found first in the last decades of the Quattrocento. As far as we can 
 judge by somewhat later pieces of the kind, and from the Venetian frames of 
 the end of the fifteenth century, these were embellished with delicate flat 
 candelabra and leaf ornament; yet, as in the frames, this was worked out in 
 plaster instead of in the characteristic carving that had been the rule. This 
 is shown in a number of beautiful chests with plaster ornament, that must 
 have originated in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and are now in the 
 Kaiser Friedrich-Museum and in the Victoria and Albert Museum (111. 94-96). 
 The jewel chest was particularly rich in execution. An excellently preserved 
 piece from the beginning of the Cinquecento, Gothic in its outside decoration, 
 is in the possession of the Berliner Kunstgewerbe-Museum (111. 93). 
 
 Next to the chest comes the low bench attached to the wall, as the usual • 
 seating furniture of the Venetian. In the hall and in the great room over it 
 these run along both sides, and there is a similar arrangement in the living- 
 rooms and bedrooms. Even at banquets they sat on these narrow wait benches, 
 the dining-table being drawn up to them. One long sids toward the middle of 
 the room was unoccupied in order that the servants might bring on the food 
 more conveniently. With these, sgabelli and stools are found only sparingly 
 and of simple form and execution; in the kitchen and the bedrooms they were 
 generally covered with woven straw and not seldom in the rooms even of the 
 palaces. The tables were equally simple, as a ruie only boards laid on trestles, 
 and covered with linen or Oriental carpets that might be removed at any time. 
 Large tables seem to have appeared first toward the end of the Quattrocento 
 and are related to the Florentine tables (111. 98). After that, through Sanso- 
 vino, Florentine art exercised a stronger influence over Venetian art craft 
 work, and the forms of the tables also resembled those of Florence more 
 closely (111. 99 and 100). 
 
 Wlith this movable or provisional furniture there were, as we see in the 
 
 29 
 
illustrations, certain sumptuous pieces, chairs as well as tables, that were 
 found in the houses of some of the most prominent families (111. 101). Several 
 show pieces of the kind are known to everyone from Carpaccio's painting — St. 
 Jerome in his Study (111. 102). They have a very delicate appearance, as they 
 are mostly built of wood and metal together. The work-chair, with a small 
 writing-desk before it is built entirely of wood; it is, however, wholly covered 
 with a red material and richly decorated with brass knobs and balls. The 
 small writing-desk and its stand are constructed in the same way. The work 
 table, at which Jerome sits, has one side against the wall (so that it may 
 be put up) supported on bronze consoles, the other side rests on a very deli- 
 cate, richly jointed bronze leg. The top, like the bench and the platform, is 
 covered in stuff and decorated with gilded bronze nails. Models related to 
 these are found in other Venetian paintings, especially in those by Carpaccio. 
 Similar work-chairs, wholly of metal, seem, from the single pieces preserved 
 from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not to have changed materially 
 since the Trecento. They have the usual X form, the legs and arms being of 
 iron, sometimes covered in stuff; the balls, feet, and joints are of brass or 
 gilded bronze (compare 111. 102). 
 
 Furniture ol this kind was as rare as the iron carved chair of Germany 
 in the sixteenth or seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, 
 or the silver tables and chairs that adorned the rooms of state in the town 
 residences of the princes in Germany and in the Northern kingdoms. 
 
 In the inventories of the time, that mentioned each chest, often giving a 
 short description, only exceptionally a table or a i'ew chairs appear. Thus in 
 1473 we find in the inheritance of a rich silk merchant twenty-three chests and 
 only four chairs. The plain stools and chairs had doubtless, as already men- 
 tioned, been passed over. All this shows, however, how important it was to 
 the Venetian, even more than to the Florentine, to keep the apartment roomy 
 and unencumbered, placing the furniture, as far as possible, close to the wall 
 or attached to it. Hence we do not find during the fifteenth century in Venice, 
 so far as I can see, even the rudiments of a cabinet, aside from the wall cupboard 
 — open or without doors — that was used for every sort of utensil and also lor 
 books. The credenza, even, does not appear at this time, nor yet before, at 
 least not in its perfected form, but only as a construction used for food, etc., 
 like the dining-table put together with trestles, boards, and framework, a/.d 
 covered with linen or textile. 
 
 The most important piece in what was properly the living-room of the 
 family was, as everywhere in Italy, the bed. Hardly to be classed as furniture, 
 truly, being so large and massive that it must have been practically immovable. 
 In form and fittings the bed of the Venetian seems to have differed very little 
 from that of the Florentine. The head stood against the wall, while a step ran 
 around the remaining sides; this was high enough to be used as a bench and as 
 a chest. The stringboards were finished in rich profile work, higher at the back, 
 while the whole structure was richly fitted up and crowned with a baldachino 
 over the head. An excellent picture of a living-room with a bed, in a house of 
 
 30 
 
some pretensions, is shown in a painting of the end of the fifteenth century, 
 by Carpaccio. 
 
 Among the sumptuous pieces the mirror was a great favorite in Venice 
 toward the end of the Quattrocento. These were of polished metal, therefore 
 small, but generally in elaborate broad frames and were shielded by a curtain 
 ©f fine — usually Oriental — material. In Venice the round form, that was rare 
 in Florence, was preferred; the frame, with rich, delicate plant forms in low 
 relief, carved or pressed in a mould, were as a rule gilded. According to the 
 examples that we have (these also are from the transition of the fifteenth to 
 the sixteenth centuries, though they have a Quattrocento character) the decor- 
 ation of the mirror corresponds exactly to the Venetian frames; both were 
 certainly made in the same workshop. The mirror being a rarity, probably be- 
 cause the preparation of the polished metal was costly, it follows that only one 
 was ever mentioned in the inheritance inventories, and that they are not even 
 found in all the houses of wealthy people. 
 
 Another piece of wall furniture that was peculiar to Venice, is the restello,' 
 the rack. In the inventories it was often mentioned, occasionally also in the 
 wills, and from the description we see that it was a particularly valued piece 
 and that they took care to have it constructed in a most sumptuous manner. 
 Like the mirror, the restello was rare, and more than one was almost never 
 made for the same house. Unfortunately until now, only one, of Lombard 
 origin, is known to us; it is in the Bagatti collection in Milan. It has a half 
 Gothic form, so we are left very much in doubt as to the usual form and finish 
 of the restello. We owe what information we have to the highly praiseworthy 
 investigations of Dr. Gustav Ludwig, concerning the art and culture of Venice. 
 A significant piece of this kind was owned by the wealthy painter, Vincenzo 
 Catena, which was decorated with small allegorical paintings by his master, 
 Giovanni Bellini; it is now in the gallery of the Academy of Venice. Origin- 
 ally the mirror was attached to the restello. On the border that closes it below, 
 stood small antiques, bronze figures, candlesticks and the like, while under that 
 were hung at first, richly ornamented toilet articles, later, astrolabes and ves- 
 sels used in the Mass, as we see in St. Jerome's Study, by Carpaccio (compare 
 111. 103). Here the mouldings in the room in the foreground, as well as in the 
 small back room, run around, forming the finish to the textile wall covering 
 that takes the place of panelling, while the restello was properly a wall piece 
 that hung between paintings in the main room, so that the useful objects stand-' 
 ing on it might be close at hand if needed. We see something resembling 
 this in the well known portrait of Jorg Gysze, by Hans Holbein, in the Berlin 
 Gallery. As a last offshoot of this furniture we have the dainty hanging shelves 
 to consider; these are usually made of three boards resting on slender turned 
 columns. From Italy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we have 
 quite a number, and similar ones appear among us, in Germany. 
 
 For the Cinquecento we are better informed about the house furnishings 
 in Venice also, as a quantity of examples have been preserved, though by no 
 means in such great numbers as in Florence. As with painting and especially 
 
 31 
 
with sculpture, art handicraft retained the style of the Quattrocento for two or 
 three decades almost unchanged, the only difference being a richer construc- 
 tion. The methods of decoration in use among the Lombardi, a family of sculp- 
 tors and architects, determined also the ornamentation of furniture. The 
 chests, like the mirror, and frames of all kinds, are covered over with delicate 
 plant ornament, as the young Lombardi, Antonio and Tullio, had perfected it. 
 The wall-back of the benches and the covering over the doors are made of fitted 
 Gobelins (the so-called verdure, with armorial bearings between small flowers 
 or bushes) ; Asiatic carpets bedeck the floors and lie over the tables, while Ori- 
 ental objects of all kinds, intermixed with bronzes of Paduan and Venetian 
 origin, ornament the shelves, as well as the door and chimney cornices. Paint- 
 ings that in earlier times were isolated and generally kept more as devotional 
 pieces, now hang in greater numbers on the walls, though indeed there are 
 even now only one or a few portraits, a Madonna picture, and occasionally a 
 mythological or allegorical composition. Picture galleries were in the first half 
 of the sixteenth century yet unknown in Venice; the tew collectors sought 
 before everything to bring together antique statues and other antiquities, small 
 works of art and curiosities of different kinds; with these only a small number 
 of paintings and large carvings appeared. 
 
 The wall tapestries that in large numbers decorated every fine house in 
 Venice were manifestly, the great majority of them, of Netherland origin; the 
 arms of the families, that many of them bear, are not woven in, but embroid- 
 ered on, which method was first used in Venice. Of the earliest "verdure" that 
 has been preserved to us and that has come from the different palaces of Ven- 
 ice and its environs, only rarely is a piece ascertained to be Venetian work. 
 From representations of such wall tapestries that we see in contemporary paint- 
 ings, especially by Carpaccio, we can best learn about their arrangement. Large 
 Netherland tapestries, arazzi, were at that time a great rarity and were at first 
 devoted only to the embellishment of churches and public buildings. In the 
 course of the Cinquecento we also find them, and indeed in whole series, in the 
 living-rooms of the Venetian merchants. With the Gobelins a wall covering of 
 close woven material of one color, made of a mixture of linen and wool, was 
 very much used in Venice, where they covered the lower part of the walls, that 
 in the North at this time was frequently panelled in wood, and later in Italy 
 also. Rich materials, especially the deep red velvet, came into general use in 
 the course of the sixteenth century; this gave to the rooms a remarkably 
 sumptuous and an unusually comfortable air, as the deep, almost neutral tone 
 was not in any way obtrusive. On the other hand we find leather wall covering 
 in Venice from the middle of the Quattrocento; it was called cuoi d'oro be- 
 cause gold was the color most in evidence. This, with the richly gilded wood 
 ceiling, must have produced a splendid effect. 
 
 A change in Venetian art craft took place in the fiftieth year of the six- 
 teenth century, through the infiltration of Florentine an, especially following 
 Jacopo Sansovino's arrival and settlement in Venice after the sack of Rome in 
 the year 1527. The change was made at first slowly, then fast and fundamen- 
 
 32 
 
tally, until cabinet art, as it had developed in Florence under the influence of 
 Michelangelo, acquired the mastery over Venetian houses. Painting was almost 
 entirely given up; in the place of the delight in color and preference for rich 
 gilding came the principle that the value of the natural color of the material 
 should be brought out, well toned, indeed, and with a sparing use of gold, but 
 this only with thorough toning. The forms were brought out more sumptu- 
 ously and the decoration consisted principally of carving in strong relief, 
 worked out with mixed ornament of fantastic masks, scrollwork and figure 
 compositions. 
 
 Requirements increased and pretensions grew greater, in consequence fur- 
 niture was more varied and more numerous. We find armchairs and side chairs, 
 as well as sgabelli, in a richer form among the wall benches. The bed especial- 
 ly, was grandly set up, with richly carved string boards and voluminous cur- 
 tains. The chests too, remained in number and richness of ornament — gener- 
 ally through vigorous carving — the most important piece of furniture, though 
 they did not so invariably occupy the foreground as formerly. 
 
 Characteristic are the cassette — small chests and caskets. In the late Tre- 
 cento the workshop of the Embriacchi, in Venice, had already produced jewel 
 caskets of bone or ivory with rich figure compositions representing ancient 
 sagas and romances of the Middle Ages, which, all over upper Italy, were the 
 most sought after of house furnishings. In the sixteenth century similar cas- 
 kets, mostly for the safekeeping of feminine ornaments, were among the princi- 
 pal features of a lady's room. While in Florence they were carved in walnut in 
 a vigorous manner, with classic ornament, and only occasionally gilded, in 
 Venice they were painted: on a lacquer-like, dark, usually blackish ground 
 are small color compositions brought into a cartouche-like framing, the corners 
 of which are filled with fine gold ornament; the handle on the top, the sides, 
 and at times the feet as well, are of gilded bronze, and are of the most delicate 
 form (111. 96). This is the same kind of decoration that we find in Venice, at 
 the time, in small frames designed for miniatures, and 25 it appears in a like 
 manner in book bindings. 
 
 Musical instruments, though not before considered, acquired in the Cinque- 
 cento a certain importance in house furnishing, through the perfecting of the 
 clavichord, which had in Venice an unusually beautiful and artistic shape. The 
 wing-shaped body of fine light wood was placed in a larger case embellished 
 with painting and set up on slender legs; this was cut so that the ornament of 
 the inner body might be seen. Several such clavichords, among them one for- 
 merly belonging to Alfonso II of Ferrara, are in the Berliner Kunstgewerbe 
 Museum (111. 101a), and in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 
 
 Almost all of this furniture is in form and decoration little divergent from 
 the contemporary Florentine furniture, that at times served as a model; what 
 lias been said of that is equally true of this. Yet certain particularly character- 
 istic Florentine pieces, like the cassapanca and the throne, did not become 
 naturalized in Venice any more than they did in the rest of Italy. Chairs and 
 armchairs, as well as the sgabello (rarely found in Venice) have, as in Florence 
 
 33 
 
a high, narrow shape. The tables, now more numerous, are at times very fine in 
 shape and of a considerable size, such as the five-meter long table of Paduan 
 origin, in the Kaiser Friedrich-Museum (111. 100), that yet holds the old reddish 
 toning and the partial gilding. The ornamentation of all these pieces of the 
 middle and the second half of the sixteenth century, although nearly related to 
 Florentine furniture of this time, is more picturesque in construction and 
 effect, richer and more inclined to the Baroque. 
 
 The fittings of the fireplace, that in the fifteenth century in Tuscany and 
 practically in all the rest of Italy were regularly of iron, showed in the six- 
 teenth century a preponderance of bronze and brass, and were often finished 
 in a costly way. The alari, andirons for holding the logs, were adorned in 
 front with statues a half or a third of life size, that stood on elaborately con- 
 structed socles, set out fantastically with masks and other ornaments. These 
 were at times executed in the workshops of the first sculptors in bronze of 
 Venice, and they belong today among the most sought after and the highest 
 priced small bronzes of the Renaissance. Fire tongs and shovels were relative- 
 ly plainer, though decorated in a similar way. Bellows also in richly carved 
 wood seem to have belonged, as in Florence and Rome, to the equipment of 
 the fireplace of the Cinquecento (111. 77-79). That the most sumptuous, the 
 most characteristic and important pieces, as they adorned whole suites of rooms 
 in the princely palaces, have not been preserved, is shown by some designs for 
 furniture from the late Renaissance, as they are found in the collection of 
 drawings in the Uffizi, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and others, also 
 as we occasionally see them in pictures. I will refer in this connection only 
 to the painting of the Ferrarese, Scarsellino, of about the year 1580, in the 
 Pitti Palace, representing a bed fitted up sumptuously in a way that suggests 
 Florentine furnishings, as they are known to us through Bronzino's paintings. 
 In Florentine furniture the inlay was of marble and semi-precious stones, here 
 it is only painted, the relief inlay being of imitation cameo, but evidently by an 
 eminent artist, perhaps one of the two Dossi, who again and again painted just 
 such bed frames for the house of Este. The small bronze table by the bed is 
 almost a true picture of a small Roman table. We find furniture resembling 
 this in other pictures by Scarsellino (various paintings in the Borghese Gallery 
 in Rome) showing a partiality for interiors richly fitted up in the style of the 
 time. Probably these were state pieces that were in the possession of Alfonso I 
 in his palaces at and near Ferrara; we can probably ascribe their construction 
 to Venetian artists or those under Venetian influence, if only because the furni- 
 ture itself was either made in Venice, with whose artists and craftsmen the 
 court of Ferrara was very actively connected, or Venetians were taken to 
 Ferrara for the purpose. In any case these give a characteristic picture of the 
 Venetian furniture of the middle of the Cinquecento as it adorned in like man- 
 ner the grand rooms of the Mantuan palaces. 
 
 Venice, in the transition from the fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries, 
 had at length overthrown Padua and then in a quick career of conquest swept 
 over Northern Italy between the Alps and the Po beyond Udine to the east, 
 
 34 
 
and to the other side of Bergamo on the west, and at the same time, though 
 hotly contested, overrunning the strip of coast on the sea as far as Ancona. 
 This whole "terra ferma" was, consequently, at the time of the Renaissance, 
 very dependent upon the ruling city in art and craft work. From Padua, that 
 for a century had possessed the most flourishing foundry in Italy, came most 
 of the small bronzes owned by Venetians, while many of the chests, tables, 
 chairs and frames, designated in our collections as Venetian, came from Verona 
 and Brescia. Until long after the middle of the Quattrocento and on, domestic 
 Late Gothic furniture seems to have persisted, resulting in the bringing out of 
 a very distinctive mixed style. The characteristics of this furniture are the 
 great simplicity of its form and profile work and the decoraton through orna- 
 ment and figure compositions etched or carved in the flat. The ground was 
 painted in order that the compositions might have a more striking effect; pre- 
 sumably the relief was brought out with gilding or color originally. The chests 
 and small caskets, the latter generally of cedar, etched inside and out, show, 
 usually, representations of festivals, allegories, mythological motives and, more 
 rarely, religious compositions which, from the costumes, must have appeared 
 ibout 1425-1475. Since they are now as a rule colorless and much worn, they 
 are, owing to the flat handling of the etching, not particularly effective, while 
 originally they must have had a very fine appearance (111. 103). A pair of 
 very interesting examples of the chairs of this time are in the possession of Dr. 
 Albert Figdor, in Vienna. They are two large folding chairs made of broad 
 boards with notched decoration; one is of Paduan origin (Ills. 104 and 105). 
 Chairs, also of a later time, preserve many of their ancient characteristics, as a 
 noteworthy armchair with fine imitation wickerwork ornament shows. In 
 these chairs and chests a Longobard tradition has certainly persisted. 
 
 From Verona especially, numerous chests are preserved, dating from the 
 end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. They are of a 
 longer shape, with a flat top, the sides (excepting the unornamented one) dec- 
 orated with painted or plaster ornament. The front is generally divided into 
 three parts and painted with small allegorical or mythological compositions in 
 landscape, or in the delicate leaf ornament in gilded plaster or painting, that 
 betrays the school of the Lombardi. On the sides arms are painted, when they 
 are not on the front (111. 106). 
 
 From the later period of the Renaissance there is a remarkable number of 
 chests, chairs, tables and credenze in the villas of the principal families of 
 Venice, Verona and Brescia, on the Lago di Garda, and in the neighborhood of 
 Brescia; what pieces of this kind come into the dealers' hands now, for the most 
 part originated in this locality. These generally colorless pieces also exhibit 
 Venetian characteristics. They differ from the productions of the city of Venice 
 through purer, usually somewhat insipid, architectural forms and a rather dry 
 handling of tfie decoration; the Michelangelesque style of Sansovino prevails 
 very little here. 
 
 Mantua and Ferrara, whose ruling houses were famous throughout the 
 Renaissance, even in Italy, for their love of splendor as well as for their taste 
 
 35 
 
for the fine arts, had in the fifteenth century preserved a partially individual 
 character though near Venice, but toward the end of the century the influence 
 of the lagune city on the arts and crafts was growing constantly stronger. 
 The High Renaissance had, consequently, an essentially Venetian character 
 here, even in the fitting up of rooms. That these were in both places often ex- 
 traordinarily sumptuous is proved by documents, and by the furnishings of 
 the rooms, that are in part preserved. The Dukes of Este and Gonzaga had 
 fitted up their castles more richly and luxuriously than the wealthiest Venetian 
 noble would undertake to; such princely splendor the Doge, as representative 
 of the Republic, might dare to display, but each citizen of Venice must hold 
 himself always within the exact limits of the bourgeoisie; the whole body of 
 citizens watched over this jealously, and sought by special laws to restrain the 
 ever resisting tendency toward luxury. Of all this magnificence there are in- 
 deed from these two courts a large number of paintings and antiquities as well 
 as miniatures, though scattered through the different collections; of all the 
 furniture, Gobelins, and other valued household objects, there is only a small 
 amount about which we have any information. This is the more to be regretted 
 as we know through records that much of this furniture was constructed in the 
 prime of the ruling families after designs by the most eminent artists, who par- 
 ticipated in the work and instead of devoting themselves to the composition of 
 pictures or sculpture, busied themselves more with all kinds of furnishings, 
 stage settings and art trades, going as far indeed as to that pertaining to the 
 wardrobe of their patrons and their suites, even to the horses, falcons and dogs. 
 Even artists like Cosimo Tura and Dosso Dossi sometimes painted beds and 
 other furniture, sometimes decorated horses' harness, made the scenery for a 
 play, or provided decorations for a festival, at other times drawing designs for 
 embroidery, Gobelins, costly materials, etc. The numerous and detailed records, 
 particularly the archives of the House of Este, give us fuller and more precise 
 information than we have from any other part of Italy concerning the intimate 
 life of the Italian princes, the fitting up of their castles and other buildings, 
 even to the form and construction, and the details of the different state pieces 
 and furnishings. Excellent examples of this sumptuous furniture from the old 
 princely possessions are the wedding chests of Paola Gonzaga, in the Museum 
 of Klagenfurt, and a pair of chests richly inlaid with ivory, in the Graz Museum. 
 
 From the indications that appear on it, a writing cabinet that was discovered 
 in Costozza, originating in the last days of the Early Renaissance, must go 
 back to the Gonzaga family; it is a brilliant piece of finished inlay, with all the 
 ornament carried out in the finest detail, though the delight in intarsia is mani- 
 fested with little advantage in the whole unrestful effect. This comes out in the 
 photographic illustration (111. 108 and 109) in an exaggerated way. The piece 
 is now in the possession of the Victoria and Albert Museum. 
 
 Concerning Ferrara we have many contemporary documents* also having 
 reference to luxury in furnishings during the fifteenth century, but we cannot 
 make a picture from these of the appearance of the pieces individually. The 
 interesting frescos with representations from the life of Borso d'Este in the 
 
 36 
 
Palazzo Schifanoja at Ferrara offer as little in this direction as most of the 
 frescos of the Quattrocento in Italy, for the accessories to the figures were as a 
 rule held in the background or given as simply as possible, if not — as in the old 
 Ferrarese paintings of the throne of the Madonna and Child — quite fantas- 
 ncally depicted. The weavers, indeed, were all Netherlanders or French, even > 
 in later times. Netherland weavers were summoned to Ferrara by Niccolo III in 
 1436; under Leonello, and especially under Ercole I, this industry developed and 
 became the most flourishing in Italy; under Ercole II it had another similar 
 success toward the middle of the sixteenth century; under Alfonso, however, it 
 declined and soon ceased to exist. Yet about a century later more than five 
 hundred Gobelins were in the possession of these princely courts. 
 
 The long sojourn in Italy which these Flanders craftsmen made and the in- 
 fluence of the Italian painters, doubtless caused their industry to take on a 
 strongly Italian character. This is shown plainly in a series of tapestries by 
 Hans Karcher, who was the most eminent artist under Ercole II. It is possible 
 also that the series sold at auction from the Spitzer collection, is his work. 
 Often, though not regularly, these artists worked from designs by Italian, par- 
 ticularly Ferrarese, painters; Cosimo Tura in the fifteenth century and Dosso 
 Dossi in the sixteenth century drew a great many designs for them. These de- 
 signs soon far surpassed what was produced in Venice, for we find at that time 
 great compositions of biblical or allegorical subjects, after the style of the old 
 Flanders tapestries; a Gobelin of this sort in the Lenbach-House at Munich 
 represents the Burial of Christ, and is woven from a cartoon by Cosimo Tura; 
 in technique it is rather careless and clumsy, but has a very picturesque effect. 
 
 Contemporary works of art of the Late Renaissance, especially of the Fer- 
 rarese school, give us a reliable picture of the sumptuous furnishings of both 
 courts. I have mentioned before (compare page 34) the paintings of the Fer- 
 rarese, Scarsellino, in which are found the likenesses of some of these state 
 pieces that were probably made at this time for the fitting up of Duke Alfonso's 
 castle, from drawings by eminent painters who also participated in the work. 
 Simpler, but very tasteful, is a clavichord with the Duke's name on it. This is 
 now in the Berliner Kunstgewerbe-Museum, and I have already gone over it 
 incidentally in connection with Venetian furniture. The case, standing on 
 three slender legs without decoration, has ornament painted in color on a dark 
 ground, the inserted part, with the musical works, being embellished with intar- 
 sia of wood and ivory of unusually beautiful and not over-rich drawing. 
 
 From the pieces of cabinet work remaining to us from Bologna and the 
 dependent Marches it appears that they were as characteristic as in Mantua or 
 even in Ferrara. Bologna, influenced during the Renaissance in part by Flor- 
 ence and in part by Venice, nevertheless maintained a certain independence. 
 As the Bolognese furniture of the seventeenth century was distinguished for 
 its strength and the forceful management of the materials, through simplicity, 
 good proportion and plain but effective profile work, so it has in the Renais- 
 sance a compact strength and adaptation to use, while in the High Renaissance 
 it unites with similar qualities a genial grace and festivity. From the numer- 
 
 37 
 
ous castles of the Ancona March, as well as from the Emilia, a quantity of fur- 
 niture of this time has been brought to light by the art dealers, a number of 
 examples coming, by this means, into the public collections. As most of these 
 have been sold from Florence they are generally regarded erroneously as Flor- 
 entine furniture. These pieces will not indeed serve to give us a superficial 
 glimpse of the arrangement of the interiors of the castles and dwelling-houses 
 of the Marches. What I have put together here on the subject is only a few 
 notes on the characteristics of the furniture that seems to me to have an 
 assured origin in Bologna and its environs, as I have seen most of them there 
 or in the Marches. 
 
 After the fifteenth century we find in the Marches a quite distinct variety 
 of chest that was certainly carried over from the Gothic period and seems to 
 have been made, almost without change, until the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. They have a short thick form, smooth, strong sides and top, are not much 
 broader than they are high, and have by way of ornamentation only delicate 
 filigree rosettes above and below on the iron bands, and a richly decorated lock. 
 These seem more closely allied to the German and French chests of the time 
 than they do to the Italian (111. 109). The walnut is in its natural color, only 
 lightly toned, and has usually taken on a deep lustrous patina. The inside is 
 not empty and unornamented, as was formerly the rule in Italy, but running 
 around the sides are quite small, low compartments that close with a flap. These 
 were for the reception of small objects, while clothing, tapestries and the like, 
 were laid in the middle. As these chests because of their strong build are 
 especially lasting, and on account of their good locks were very practical, a 
 larger number of them were preserved in the villas; these locks were something 
 quite unusual in Italian chests, for many of them, even among the most artis- 
 tically executed pieces, in the sixteenth century also, had supplementary and 
 rough locks bored through the decoration. On account of their simplicity and 
 lack of ornament these chests seldom come into the museums. 
 
 In the beginning of the Cinquecento chests took their form and their 
 decoration from the wood carver, Formigine, celebrated in Bologna, or at 
 least from the tendency for which he beyond everyone else was responsible; 
 for he is himself a mythical personality, to whom is accredited all varieties of 
 the best wood carving of the time in Bologna. The Formigine chests come 
 next to the Venetian chests of about 1520-1530. On lion feet, with a sarcopha- 
 gus shaped top, they are without ornament excepting on the sides, which are 
 decorated in rather high relief with armorial bearings in the middle and strong 
 plant tendrils that spring from a dolphin or a caryatid filling the corners. They 
 either have their natural color or are entirely gilded, as a perfectly preserved 
 example in the Kunstegewerbe Museum of Leipzig, shows (III. 110). These 
 Bolognese chests lack the agreeable appearance that comes from light construc- 
 tion, fine contours and beautifully worked out decoration, as Bolognese art 
 almost altogether lacks variety; when one has seen several pieces with the 
 same motive repeated, one tires of them (111. 111). The diversity Florentine 
 chests had, even in the sixteenth century, thanks to the Michelangelesque Bar- 
 
 38 
 
oque decoration and its various mixtures with pure High Renaissance motives, 
 is wanting in this work, that felt as little the influence of Michelangelo as did 
 Bolognese art generally, although Bologna twice harbored the artist within 
 her walls for a length of time, and witnessed here the production of various 
 works of his. 
 
 With these, and later in the place of the carved chests with strongly re- 
 lieved plant ornament, came, in the second half of the Cinquecento, chests 
 without this carving, the sides receiving their embellishment through inlay. 
 While intarsia work in other parts of Italy had already practically disappeared, 
 it arose here in an individual manner; it would not, however, bear comparison 
 with that older art of intarsia. As they filled a hollowed out design of thin 
 ornamental forms with a whitish paste, they found a cheap substitute for the 
 real intarsia (111. 112). Later they turned back to this, however, inlaying the 
 dark polished walnut sides with lighter woods; but this itself was done lightly, 
 as deepened lines in the ornament or figure composition mostly provided the 
 shadows, making the effect quite picturesque. Bologna, whose art was out- 
 wardly flourishing and celebrated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 
 though living on older art methods, preserved classicism even in her chests up 
 to this late period. 
 
 The tables of the Quattrocento in the Marches have rough strength and 
 freshness in design and execution. They are of a typical form which they held * 
 until the middle of the Cinquecento: the strong octagonal or more rarely the 
 round top of medium size rests on three stout legs terminating in lion feet, 
 at the joining of which a pineapple is usually placed. The functions of sup- 
 port, weight and stability of the table could hardly be better or more effect- 
 ively expressed than here. With the exception of the simple legs with lion 
 feet these tables for the most part, though not without profile work, are other- 
 wise unornamented, which increases the effect of strength (111. 113). Where 
 delicate ornament is found in the lower part, under the top — which is the case 
 with many of the pieces that come into the dealers' hands in Bologna — it is 
 the work of falsifiers, who seek to beautily this simple furniture in order to 
 make it sell better. 
 
 That the Renaissance tables in the Marches have regularly an octagonal 
 form, that they are so strong and so heavily built, and are almost always of the 
 same size (about one meter across and the same in heignt), has its ground in 
 the build and fitting up of the castles and villas; yet we are as little informed 
 about this, as about many other important questions relating to Italian art 
 and culture. The young, newly established Italian State had to work so long 
 and so hard to win its position and to organize its affairs, the greatness and 
 splendor of Italian high art had drawn all eyes so exclusively to it, as well as 
 absorbing all study, that such questions have not generally been considered. 
 In the mean time, however, much of the material essential to any answer to 
 these queries has been destroyed or scattered. So we lack any support for the 
 determination of further examples of house furnishings in Bologna and the 
 Marches and their connections. The writing cabinet illustrated here (111. 114), 
 
 39 
 
that originated about 1530, came out of a palace in the Marches (Faenza or 
 some neighboring place), judging by indications. It is simple in construction 
 and decoration, of unusually agreeable proportions, and has ornament that 
 exhibits the forms of the High Renaissance very clearly and delicately yet with- 
 out any trace of Michelangelo's influence. It is of its kind, so far as I know, 
 the only work that is so closely related to Florentine furniture of the time and 
 sort that it must either have been the work of a Florentine or made under 
 Florentine influence. Exactly this northern part of the Ancona March was from 
 the beginning of the Renaissance almost a domain of Florentine art. 
 
 40 
 
ITALY IN THE NORTHWEST 
 
 We lack also sufficient support for the making of a reasonably trustworthy 
 picture of the disposition of Lombardy houses and of the single pieces of furni-* 
 ture from the period of the High Renaissance. The frightful devastation to 
 which this particular part of Italy was exposed at the end of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury and in the first decades of the sixteenth century, especially through the 
 invasions of the French and later under the domination of Spain, resulted in 
 thoroughly clearing out the older house furnishings. What is preserved in the 
 Museo Poldi, in the Museo del Castello and especially in the palace of the 
 Bagatti family in Milan, shows relationship with contemporary cabinet work of 
 Venice, and indeed did not remain uninfluenced by her art. The furniture with* 
 ivory inlay is generally characteristic; because it was constructed in the neigh- 
 borhood of Pavia it has been known as mobiii alia certosina. Whether it really 
 was at home here, or whether it was transplanted from Lombardy, is a question 
 that remains unanswered. The circumstance that in the transition of the four- 
 teenth to the fifteenth century the artist family, the Embriacchi, were working 
 on their own particular chests, mirrors, altars, etc., of ivory carving with inlaid 
 framework, especially for the Lombard rulers and people of rank, seems to 
 indicate Venice as the home of this particular intarsia art furniture. The fact 
 too, that in Near-Asia quite similar intarsia of a high finish was made, would 
 point to Venice, since until the sixteenth century she was most powerfully in- 
 fluenced by the Orient in all her industries. 
 
 The older pieces of this kind, indicated as Lombard intarsia furniture, go 
 back to the end of the fifteenth century. They are mainly chests (111. 115 and 
 116), Savonarola chairs (111. 118 and 119), small caskets and mirrors, more 
 rarely also writing cabinets (117). The decoration is generally in small geomet- • 
 rical designs which are devised with much taste and laid on as a flat ornamenta- 
 tion. In larger pieces, namely in the chests, simple naturalistic motives occas- * 
 ionally appear, such as bouquets and flowers in vases, but always in a fine 
 conventionalization. The furniture, to the advantage of the decoration, is al- • 
 ways simple in form and provided with very small and modest profile work, 
 so that the large smooth surface might offer an opportunity for bringing out 
 the decoration. This plainness and the strong drawing of the inlaid ornament 
 might lead easily to a too early dating of this work; a chair of the sort, which 
 must have originated toward the end of the Quattrocento, was mentioned in the 
 catalogue of the Gedon auction in Munich in 1884, as having made its appear- 
 ance at the end of the thirteenth century or the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century. 
 
 In the western border provinces, Piedmont, Savoy, and Liguria, a 
 relation with France is plainly evident. In Piedmont and Savoy French- 
 
 41 
 
Burgundian influence is unmistakable, as a quantity of good furni- 
 ture from this province in the admirable Museo Civico of Turin and in some 
 of the noted castles of Piedmont prove. That even up to the sixteenth century 
 the Gothic tradition held here, is shown in the vigorous French forms. We can 
 follow this best in the chests that alone are at hand in relatively large 
 numbers (111. 124). It is otherwise in Genoa and on the Riviera. Here we see 
 also in the Renaissance furniture a distinct relationship with the furniture of 
 the south of France, namely, with that which had Lyons for its centre of pro- 
 duction, though, it is true, this may be followed up only exceptionally until the 
 fifteenth century when, expressing in general the Gothic characteristics of 
 Liguria, it exhibits an elongated Gothic decoration. These pieces were little 
 considered and their origin rarely known or taken account of; they are found 
 in great numbers with the over-sumptuous Lyons furniture which the French 
 and English collectors have preserved in quantity in their palaces, though they 
 are generally inferior to these in richness and artistic finish of the decoration, 
 as in the variety and fantasy of the design. In consequence they are in general 
 designated as French, or when their Ligurian origin is assured, they are passed 
 off as imitations of the Lyons furniture. The relation seems to me to be just 
 the opposite: the Genoese furniture provided a model for that of Lyons; over 
 the Riviera the Renaissance in cabinet work pressed toward France and exer- 
 cised an appreciable influence over the development of this art in its southern 
 provinces. 
 
 . Here in Genoa and on the neighboring littorale Renaissance furniture, 
 though almost without exception from an advanced period, is preserved in pro- 
 portionately greater quantity and of a greater variety than in the other western 
 provinces of Northern Italy. The pieces have indeed strayed out into other 
 countries and go now under strange names. The chests do not play the fore- 
 * most role, as in the rest of Italy; in their place appears the cabinet in two parts, 
 that elsewhere in Italy — as we have seen — was very seldom used as house furni- 
 ture. If, and how far, the introduction of these pieces from the North has 
 exercised an influence here, is at this time hard to decide, since we know so 
 little of the cabinet work of Lombardy, on which this industry, like Genoese 
 art in general, had been dependent since the Trecento. Netherland influences 
 rhat at the beginning of the Cinquecento made themselves felt in Genoese 
 painting, could not have been proportionately powerful in this direction, for 
 aside from the difficulty of transporting things of such relatively small worth, 
 the habits of life in the two countries differed too much. 
 
 • In the illustration we have a characteristic Ligurian cabinet, made in 
 Genoa, that is now in the Museum of Magdeburg, and another that is in the 
 Victoria and Albert Museum (111. 120 and 121). They consist, as a rule, of an 
 upper and an under part, of very nearly the same size, both having double 
 doors. The structure is simple and architectural; the decoration on the other 
 hand is very rich, but on account of its low relief is not obtrusive as it is in 
 most of the Lyons furniture. The doors are each decorated as separate sur- 
 faces; the framework takes the shape of pilasters, socles and mouldings, and is 
 
 42 
 
conventionally decorated; the locks and handles are here provided with orna- 
 ment, mostly of a head with open mouth or something similar, and are toned. 
 These cabinets are quite related to the contemporary credenze, among which is 
 found the one illustrated, now in the possession of the dealer in antiques, 
 Stefano Bardini, in Florence (111. 122). The Ligurian tables are also distinc- • 
 tive and more nearly related to those of the French than the Italian. The two « 
 characteristic broad feet are as a rule bound together by a cross-piece that 
 serves at the same time as a base from which two slender columns arise; these 
 support the top. Between these pairs of pillars runs a small row of delicately 
 turned columns. A typical example of a Ligurian chair is shown in a Genoese 
 piece that, with the twelve chairs that belong with it, is found in private owner- 
 ship in Berlin (111. 123). They are distinguished for their rich iron work with 
 large gilded nails, and their perfect preservation. The wood is unusually 
 beautiful mahogany that was first brought to Italy at that time in Genoese 
 ships, but for a time spread little into general use. 
 
 I should attribute to Genoa the origin of a noteworthy chest shown at 
 Rome in 1885 in an exhibition of Roman furniture. It is quite distinctive, as 
 the sides, formerly always straight or bowed outward, have a strong inward 
 curve, like many of the sarcophagi. The base is very strong and high, the top 
 being, on the contrary, flat. The palmetto design and the festoons display the 
 soft full forms of the Ligurian furniture. This chest, originating in 1530, is 
 of walnut, partially gilded. 
 
 43 
 
ROME AND NAPLES 
 
 We may assume for Rome great luxury in house furnishings as in other 
 things, from trie fondness for art shown by a number of Popes in the Renais- 
 sance period, as well as from the great love of display and luxury among the 
 papal relatives and the rich clergy, who sought through the use of their col- 
 lected riches to increase as much as possible their fame and enjoyment during 
 their lifetime. This is confirmed for us by the records for which we are indebted 
 to the researches of E. Muntz, Bertolotti and others. Very little furniture is 
 preserved bearing the indications of a Roman derivation, though many Roman 
 pieces appear, of a date after about the second or third decade of the sixteenth 
 century; almost all, indeed, of only one fixed variety, and this, chests. How 
 the love of display among the higher clergy expressed itself in these is proved, 
 among other things, by the description of the outfit that Lucretia Borgia re- 
 ceived from her father, Pope Alexander VIII on the occasion of her marriage 
 with Duke Ercole of Ferrara. For the transport of the wedding effects in the 
 sumptuous chests, jewel caskets, etc., from Rome to Ferrara, a train of several 
 hundred mules was required. 
 
 If we do not include Raphael's tapestries, there is hardly a piece of the 
 old Vatican furniture or of that from other papal palaces left, or even known; 
 but a suggestion of the artistic finish of these pieces in the living-rooms and 
 the rooms of state, in the time of Julius II and Leo X, is given us by the 
 splendidly carved doors and window frames in the Stanze. For the making 
 of these rooms Raphael had called Giovanni Barile from Siena, while at the 
 same time the younger Luca della Robbia put the paving stones of the floor 
 in place, as they are yet preserved, though truly in a hardly recognizable state. 
 
 In this classic period even the earliest pieces approached that style of 
 1 furniture especially characteristic of Rome: that furniture that is embellished 
 with carving in high relief, in which the color of the wood is only lightly toned 
 and only rarely gilded here and there. They conform essentially with the Flor- 
 entine furniture, the work being executed for the most part by Florentine 
 cabinet makers or under the influence of Florentine architects and wood-carvers. 
 In Rome they held their individual character, being much less under the influ- 
 ence of Michelangelo than of Raphael. The high relief of the decoration on the 
 front and the two small sides of the chests has, in conception, composition and 
 modelling, the closest relationship with that found in the paintings of Giulio 
 Romano, Polidoro da Caravaggio and others of the Raphael school. Since in 
 the compositions chests even of the kinds that have been preserved, appear, 
 the most of them two or more times, it is probable that the design for them 
 can be traced back to such artists. 
 
 The compositions are almost exclusively borrowed from ancient and Roman 
 
 44 
 
history or classical mythology. Most of them have invariably two rich reliefs 
 separated by armorial bearings; occasionally the front has several small com- 
 positions of one or two figures, separated by pilasters or caryatids. On the 
 smaller sides single figures, sea monsters, and the like, are generally found. 
 The arms are as a rule in the middle, held by two putti or flanked by a pair 
 •f nude figures representing chained warriors. The latter is repeated with 
 slight variations on a whole group of these chests. In a similar manner fettered 
 barbarians in rich garments are brought into the corners; these are borrowed 
 from Roman triumphal arches. Like these, many of the figures or groups 
 are copied more or less freely from antique statues that were found in Rome 
 at that time. The preference for Roman history and myth indicates Rome as 
 the place where the greater part of these chests originated and the armorial 
 bearings, where these have so far been determined, also confirms this opinion. 
 
 The Victoria and Albert Museum has the greatest number of such chests. 
 Around the sides, against the walls of the old Hall of the Raphael cartoons, 
 stand sumptuous chests of the kind, alternating with richly carved sgabelli that 
 in their perfect preservation, old gilding and fine bronze colored patina, have 
 an exceptionally good effect. The other large museums possess either one or a 
 few of these pieces. Two that belong together, of especial excellence and pres- 
 ervation, with the old partial gilding also, are in the Kaiser Friedrich-Museum 
 in Berlin, where as a decoration they ornament the hall, with Raphael's paint- 
 ings. One of these (111. 125) has in two parts, separated by armorial bearings, 
 a representation of the death of Niobe's children from the arrows of Apollo. A 
 somewhat later repetition, with a different middle piece, and unfortunately less 
 well preserved, has been taken out of the old Museum and put into the Kunstge- 
 werbe-museum. A considerable number of these chests is found in private 
 ownership in the palaces of England and France, especially in the houses of the 
 Rothschild family in Paris. The great Paris auctions of Renaissance art works, 
 as they were held by Fr. Spitzer, Baron Seillieres, and others, included many 
 such pieces. 
 
 When these chests stand against our walls they generally have a low, heavy 
 effect. This is because now they usually lack the substructure, which raised 
 them up very much and at the same time protected them. We refer for this 
 to the illustration of an old Florentine chest with the under piece that goes with 
 it; this is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (111. 3). 
 
 The chests, in their vigorous forms, rich carving, and partial gilding, cor- 
 respond with the rest of the furniture used for the fitting up of the Roman 
 palaces of the High Renaissance. Sgabelli form the majority of sumptuous pieces 
 of this kind, of Florentine-Roman derivation, made especially for Roman fur- 
 nishings. Proportionately numerous are the carved bellows, still used as an 
 ornamental piece among the fittings of the fireplace. Among the museums the 
 Victoria and Albert Museum has again a quantity of these, and indeed unus- 
 ually splendid ones (compare 111. 77-79), the rest may be sought in the palaces 
 of England and France that are fitted up with Renaissance furnishings. Only a 
 few tables of a like character have been preserved in Rome; they have been, 
 
 45 
 
almost without exception, sold outside the country (111. 127) ; among them a 
 large and splendid piece, of marble with bronze decoration, from the Palazzo 
 Massimi, the design of which is ascribed to Peruzzi. One of the most beautiful 
 pieces of the kind, shown in 111. 128, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. An 
 unusually fine writing-cabinet which appeared in Stefano Bardini's sale in 
 London, 1902, gives an excellent idea of these pieces; according to the armorial 
 bearings it was made for Cardinal Farnese (Pope Paul III). What is true of 
 all the sumptuous pieces of this kind is noticeable here, that the side pieces, 
 profiles, and details, are not carefully worked out like the large sculptured piece 
 set in the front. The discriminating taste shown in the simple furniture at the 
 beginning of the Cinquecento and from the second half of the Quattrocento, is 
 seldom met with here. A writing-cabinet, similar in character, incidentally 
 suggests Florentine furniture (111. 130, compare page 17). 
 
 So far we have no reliable information as to who the artists were who de- 
 signed or carried out the work on this variety of furniture. That they were 
 natives of Florence seems, considering the character of the work, indubitable; 
 whether the pieces came out of the workshop of the younger Tasso, or from 
 that of Baccio d'Agnolo, or others mentioned by Vasari and in the records of 
 certain wood-carvers, is as yet impossible to decide. They have so uniform a 
 character that they could have been distributed only among a small group of 
 artists closely related with each other. Most easily recognized is the workshop 
 of an artist who by preference brought out children and childrens' heads, in 
 very robust forms. Since reliefs in Florentine sandstone, mostly with partial 
 gilding, exactly corresponding, come from Florence, this master is doubtless 
 a sculptor and a Florentine. That we must seek among these artists prominent 
 architects like Peruzzi, Antonio San Gallo and others, is indicated by the 
 numerous sketches for furniture that have been preserved, especially from the 
 Cinquecento (particularly in the collections of drawings in the Uffizi, the Vic- 
 toria and Albert Museum and others). In the High Renaissance the separation 
 between artist and craftsman, the designer and the artisan who carried out the 
 design, was in a certain degree complete, especially where there was a question 
 of handling very sumptuous and uniform decoration. 
 
 Research among the records has brought out testimony that in Naples and 
 Sicily also, a rich and various cabinet work flourished. The splendor loving court 
 of the Aragon rulers seems to have found particular pleasure in fitting up 
 palatial rooms with costly furniture rich in artistic expression. These princes 
 kept their art collections in expensively made cabinets. But specifically Nea- 
 politan furniture was, so far as I know, recognized first about the middle of 
 the High Renaissance. The few pieces of the kind are very similar to the 
 Roman pieces just described; they are richly provided with strong heavy pro- 
 file work and the deeply toned wood has a beautiful patina. 
 
 • In the course of the sixteenth century the political and public life of Italy 
 underwent a complete transformation, in that the dominions of small tyrants 
 were changed into principalities in the modern sense, and republics, aristo- 
 cratically ruled Venice in particular, vanished. In the place of the ruling 
 
 46 
 
towns, on whose prosperity the development of the Renaissance depended, came 
 the princely courts, from that time determining the forms of life and affecting 
 also the furnishing of the houses. The new requirements to fit the different 
 circumstances, the demand for representation in splendor and luxury, made 
 themselves felt plainly also in the whole arrangement of the houses and in all 
 ine furnishings; while some furniture was put in the background or entirely 
 disappeared, other quite new pieces came to the front. The wall bench and the * 
 chest were displaced by furniture for seating of a different sort; the commode 
 came up as a new variety of furniture, quickly causing the chests to disappear; 
 the tables were more numerous and more various; the mirror became the im- 
 portant feature of the room, as, with a table underneath for a support, it had 
 the effect of a large superb piece, reflecting the furniture around it and 
 doubling the splendor of the room. Another novelty, the chandelier of crystal • 
 and glass that, hanging from the ceiling, often in large numbers and in the 
 richest settings, lighted the rooms, increasing their regal brilliancy, making 
 them shine in fantastic lights, was very different from the quiet, scarcely ade- 
 quate, lighting of the Renaissance period. The bed was relegated to a small 
 room and frequently occupied a very deep niche, the alccve. In short, modern 
 furniture was born in Italy, truly no longer through its own power but under 
 strong influence, especially from France. It is a way of furnishing that only 
 recently, through the demands of hygiene for light and air and through prac- 
 tical inventions, has been essentially changed. 
 
 47 
 
Introduction 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 3 
 
 Foreword . . . . . .6 
 
 I. Florence and Tuscany .... 7 
 
 II. Venice and the Mainland . . 27 
 
 III. Italy in the Northwest . ... 41 
 
 IV. Rome and Naples .... 44 
 
 48 
 
Plate I. 
 
 1. Florentine Painted Cassone about 1410—1420. Bargello Museum, Florence. 
 
 2. Florentine Cassone about 1440. In a Private Collection. 
 
 "Hj.J,J ... „!...,, -• 
 
 ■ 
 
 ILi..vi:Vv - 
 
 3. Tuscan Cassone with Gesso Work about 1440. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
Plate II. 
 
 4. Tuscan Cassone with Gesso Work. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 - « - 
 
 5. Tuscan Cassone with Gesso Work. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 6. Florentine Cassone about 1440. Formerly in the Bardini Collection, Florence. 
 
Plate III. 
 
 — — i M — — — — _ — - — - — ■ i~~ " 
 
 7. Florentine Cassone about 1450. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
 8. Florentine Cassone with Intarsia Decoration about 1480. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate IV. 
 
 iaBMpjpjgBEFBjar~rH,— ; — '«iiii ttt — 
 
 i> ~ S35P?3'~iS5S=S3i§^ . 
 
 Wliitf^^^ 
 
 >: iV.il i). 
 
 9. Florentine Cassone about 1480. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 10. Florentine Cassone of the "Strozzi Family" 1507. 
 Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate V. 
 
 .. , 
 
 11. Florentine Cassone with Intarsia Decoration about 1905 
 Prince Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna. 
 
 h C^ 
 
 
 12. Cassone of the "Albert Family" about 1530, Musee Andre, Paris. 
 
 J' 
 
Plate VI. 
 
 13. Tuscan Cassone about 1580. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 14. Tuscan Cassone about 1575. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 15. Tuscan Casket of the 15th Century. 
 
Plate VII. 
 
 par 
 
 16. 
 Florentine Jewel Casket about 1525. Kaiser -Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 J^^fR^ 
 
 .■C^^VVV^IS.'.H 1 ^ >^ 
 
 
 17. 
 Florentine Stucco Casket with Pastiglia Decoration. Kunstgewerbe- Museum, Berlin. 
 
 18. 
 Florentine Bench end of the 15th Century. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate VIII. 
 
 19. Florentine Bench about 1475. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 20. 
 Florentine Bench about 1550. Kaiser- Friedridi -Museum, Berlin. 
 
 21. Florentine Cassapanca with Inlaid Intarsia Decoration, E. Volpi Collection, Florence. 
 
Plate IX. 
 
 22. 
 Florentine Cassapanca. Bargello Museum, Florence. 
 
 23. 
 Florentine Cassapanca. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate X. 
 
Plate XI. 
 
 25. 
 Florentine Cassapanca. Davanzati Palace, Florence. 
 
Plate XII. 
 
 Florentine Room with Throne and Bed, High Renaissance Period. 
 From a Fresco by "Andrea del Sardo" at Florence. 
 
Plate XIII. 
 
 ""WT?* 
 
 27. 
 Throne of "Filippo Strozzi." Baron Moritz Rothschild Collection, Paris. 
 
Plate XIV. 
 
 
 LfcifctttttLL4 Lt4.L4.ittfcU.tktfct.tifi* miltliiU ti itUUi) 
 
 LUXilXTliU-fcLL fctt< L4 ttttttttttttfctfcfcjt 
 
 54VU.U U-U*UL U Oi.UU.Ui.UiU; U-UU^.U-U.U.U«UlU«ltUiU.UiUt«fcUJ.UiUilU«l««IIitJM»t010jUiO!UJlUIUrtlfl|-ll <I II 
 
 28. 
 Throne of "Guiliano dei Medici" about 1510. In a Private Collection. 
 
Plate XV. 
 
 29. 30. 
 
 Strozzi Sgabello. Dr. R. Figdor Collection, Vienna. 
 
Plate XVI. 
 
 31. Florentine Sgabello. 
 Kunstgewerbe- Museum, Berlin. 
 
 VTTn I ITill I IV 
 
 32. Florentine Sgabello. 
 Victoria and Albert Museum, 
 London. 
 
 33. Florentine Sgabello. 
 Museum at Magdeburg. 
 
Plate XVII. 
 
 34 35. Tuscan Sgabello and Stool. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
 .36. Florentine Fold-Stool of Wrought Iron and Brass. Bardini Collection, Florenze. 
 
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 X 
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 W C 
 
Plate XIX. 
 
 38. 
 
 Tuscan Folding Arm Chair. 
 
 Dr. A. Figdor Collection, Vienna. 
 
 39. 
 
 Tuscan Folding Chair. 
 
 Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 40. 41. 
 
 Northern Italian Leatlv - Covered Arm Chairs. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
Plate XX. 
 
 42. Florentine Arm Chair Velvet Covering. 
 
 43. Small Florentine Chair about 1550. 
 
 44. Florentine Chair with cane Seat. 
 Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate XXI. 
 
 'MIMIHIimMlniiiii llllUL^l' l M.M.MJ.HM/n_iti|iliin.vv'':y. 
 
 45. 
 Tuscan Table about 1530. In a Private Collection at Florence. 
 
 46. 
 Florentine Marble Table about 1475. 
 
Plate XXII. 
 
 47. Small Tuscan Table end of the 15th Century. 
 
 48. Florentine Table end of the 15th Century. Formerly at Florence. 
 
Plate XXIII. 
 
 w 
 
 Tuscan Table end of the 15th Century. Dr. A. Figdor Collection, Vienna. 
 
 50 
 
 Tuscan Table about 1550. In a Private Collection. 
 
Plate XXIV. 
 
 51. 
 
 Florentine Table about 1550. Formerly at Florence. 
 
 52. 
 Florentine Table about 1550. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate XXV. 
 
 53. 
 Florentine Table about 1550. In a Private American CoMection. 
 
 L~ 
 
 5'\. 
 Florentine Table about 1540. Torregiani Palace. 
 
Plate XXVI. 
 
 55. 
 Tuscan Credenza about 1560. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 56. 
 Florentine Credenza about 1560. 
 
Plate XXVII. 
 
 57. Florentine Credenza about 1550. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 58 
 
 Florentine Credenza about 1550. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate XXVIII. 
 
 59. 
 Tuscan Credenza about 1550. Dr. Topfer Collection, Stettin. 
 
Plate XXIX. 
 
 60. 
 
 Florentine Writing Cabinet about 1550. Otto Beit Collection, London. 
 
Plato XXX. 
 
 Flore ;ry. In a Private Co'. 
 
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 X 
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 CV 
 
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 Uh 
 
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Plate XXXIII. 
 
 66. 
 
 Tuscan Desk Cabinet about 1580. Davanzati Palace, Florence. 
 

 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 i§ 
 
 a 
 
 UJ 
 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 O 
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Plate XXXV. 
 
 68. 69. 
 
 Florentine Pedestals. In a Private Collection at Berlin. 
 
Plate XXXVI. 
 
 70. 
 
 Roman Pedestal about 1530. 
 Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 71. 
 
 Tuscan Pedestal about 1570. 
 
 Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
2 t/> 
 
 3 J 
 
 U, 
 
> 
 
 X 
 
 X 
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 a 
 
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 X 
 
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 PQ 
 
 (35 
 
 C 
 
 ca 
 
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 5 
 
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Plate XL. 
 
 80. 
 Florentine Clothes Rack about 1560. 
 
 81. 
 Florentine Carved Panel about 1560. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate XLI. 
 
 82. 
 Sienese Cassone about 1450. In a Private Collection at Florence. 
 
 83. 
 
 Sienese Jewel Casket of the 15th Century. 
 
 Otto Lanz Collection, Amsterdam. 
 
Plate XLII. 
 
 ■ : :Uf l l /J 7 i J J t J 1 1 1 ! 1 } 1 J l : n - jjj y 
 
 84. Sienese Cassone about 1570. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 85. Casket by A. Barile. City Hall, Siena. 
 
 87. Sienese Table about 1540. In a Private Collection at Vienna. 
 
Plate XLIII. 
 
 86. Synagogue Throne about 1525. (The Seat is a Cassone of a Later Period). 
 Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate XLIV. 
 
 Sienese Table about 1560. Kaiser-Friedridi-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 89. 
 Sienese Credenza about 1540. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museuni, Berlin. 
 
Plate XLV. 
 
 90. 
 Sienese Cabinet about 1540. Davanzati Palace, Florence. 
 
Plate XLVI. 
 
 91. Umbrian Chest with Drawers about 1480. 
 
 92. Umbrian Table about 1450. hi a Private Collection at Florence. 
 
Plate XLVII. 
 
 IP 
 
 93. 
 
 Large Venetian Jewel Chest about 1500. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate XLVIII. 
 
 
 £sr 
 
 ^T^" 
 
 mmmmmmmmsamrn i ■■■ ■ ' 
 
 94. Venetian Cassone with Gesso Work. Kunstgewcrbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 ■HBMWMM 
 
 95. Venetian Cassone with Gesso Work. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
 96. Venetian Cassone. In a Private Collection. 
 
Plate XLIX. 
 
 97. 
 Small Venetian Jewel Casket about 1540. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 98. 
 Venetian Table about 1520. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museutn, Berlin. 
 
Plate L. 
 
 99. 
 Venetian Table about 1550. Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 100. 
 Large Venetian Table about 1570. Kaiser-Friedrieh-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate LI. 
 
 101. 
 
 Venetian Savonarola Chair with Leather Seat. 
 Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
 3r«J r Ji 
 
 j^/^uaijuALEwuiuijn^: I ^" " 
 
 l 
 
 101 a. Venetian Clavier about 1550. 
 
Plate LII. 
 
Plate LIII. 
 
 103. 
 Cassone, Dr. R. Figdor Collection, Vienna. 
 
> 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
Plate LV. 
 
 >wpwwwtwipiiwipw^w w ii i iii ri i iiii i pi ^ 
 
 
 106. Veronese Cassone about 1510. Poldi Museum, Milano. 
 
 HBBBIBBBBBBBBBBb.' ... 
 
 i un \ kKi» i i^ a fSBiHHn mmmmm mf \ ifmtmk i Mmvfwmttmn i mtKiKmiimiKH mm ^m»nn.«Milli.Mm ' ' i V. ^ 
 
 108. Mantuan Writing Cabinet (Opened) with Intarsia Decoration. 
 Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
Plate LVI. 
 
 ■ " ,,arsia Decora,ion - V ^^^^^I^. 
 
Plate LVII. 
 
 109. Provincial Cassone. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
 110. Bologncse Cassone. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Leipzig. 
 
 ^^, ?7p ^^r^rV^rT7^^^S^ 
 
 111. Bolognese Cassone. In a Private Collection. 
 
Plate LVIII. 
 
 112. Bolognese Cassone about 1560. In a Private Collection. 
 
 113. Provincial Table. 
 
Plate LIX. 
 
 114. Provincial Writing Cabinet. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. 
 
Plate LX. 
 
 115. 
 Cassone Inlaid with Certosina. Victoria and Albert A\useum, London. 
 
Plate LXI. 
 
 >^> 
 
 116. 
 Cassone Inlaid with Certosina about 15C0. Otto Lanz Collection, Amsterdam. 
 
Plate LXII. 
 
 117. Lombardic Cabinet about 1550. 0. Lanz Collection, Amsterdam. 
 
 118. Lombardic Arm Chair about 1500. 
 Otto Lanz Collection, Amsterdam. 
 
 119. Arm Chair Inlaid with Certosina. 
 Dr. A. Figdor Collection, Vienna. 
 
Plate LXIII. 
 
 120. 
 Ligurian Cabinet. Museum at Magdeburg. 
 
Plate LXIV. 
 
 W^-^ , *HrtW:Wft i W»<W.iW.tfW^ 
 
 i ^^^^yh^y^^}f^^h^>^! ■% 
 
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 121. 
 
 Ligurian Cabinet. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
Plate LXV. 
 
 122. 
 Ligurian Credenza. Formerly in the Bardini Collection, Florence. 
 
Plate LXVI. 
 
 123. 
 Ligurian Arm Chair. In a Private Collection. 
 
Plate LXVII. 
 
 124. 
 Savoyan Cassone about 1500. In a Private Collection. 
 
 / 
 
 125. 
 Roman Cassone about 1540. Kaiser-Friedrich-iWuseum, Berlin. 
 
Plate LXVIII. 
 
 <>- _'•- . 
 
 126. 
 Roman Cassone. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
 
 127. 
 Roman Table. In a Private Collection. 
 
Plate LXIX. 
 
 128. 
 Roman Table. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 
 
Plate LXX. 
 
 129. 
 Writing Cabinet of Pope Paul III. Otto Beit Collection, London. 
 
Plate LXXI. 
 
 130. 
 Roman Writing Desk. Otto Beit Collection, London. 
 
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